ROME, Ga. - Playing in its first conference title game in five seasons, the Centre men's basketball team used a late run in the first half to make it a close game against the top seeded Berry Vikings, but the Vikings caught fire from three-point range in the second half and won 83-65.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
- Like they had done in each of the two regular season meetings, Berry got off to the hot start and maintained the lead.
- Centre weathered the opening onslaught and treaded water for most of the first half as Berry's lead fluctuated between eight and 12 points as uncharacteristically poor Centre free throw shooting prevented the Colonels from getting closer.
- Towards the end of the half, the Colonels were trailing 40-24 when they struck.
Jaxson Banks,
Ryan Shene and
Kalib Thomas made consecutive threes to saw the deficit in half. After a Berry basket with seven seconds to go,
Landen Hamilton buried a long one to make it a 42-36 game at the break with momentum firmly on Centre's side.
- Centre maintained the momentum to start the second half as Hamilton got inside to score and cut the lead to 42-38. Berry quickly fired back with eight straight points to go back up by double figures and kept the pressure on as they continued to knock down three-pointers.
- The Colonels battled back from another 14-point deficit and hunt tough, cutting the lead in half at 61-54 on a jumper by
Hunter Coleman with eight minutes left. That was as close as Centre could get it as a 12-3 run by Berry effectively put the game away.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Shene led the Colonels with 15 points off the bench, followed by Hamilton with 14,
Nolan Wahl with 12 and Banks with ten. Banks ends his Centre career on a 26-game streak of double digit scoring.
- Wahl finished with a game high 14 rebounds, giving him double-doubles in nine games for his freshman year, including all three in the postseason.
- While both teams shot over 50 percent from three-point range in the first half, Berry shot 58 percent (7-12) in the second half compared to 24 percent (4-17) for Centre.
