MOUNT BERRY, Ga. - After falling behind by 15 points early in the second half, Centre men's basketball staged a furious comeback in the closing minutes to pull to within one point, but ultimately fell to the Berry Vikings by a score of 63-62.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
- The two teams traded the lead several times in the first eight minutes, with free throws from
Garrison Hildebrant and a layup by
Hunter Coleman giving Centre an early 9-7 lead.
- The Vikings scored nine of the next 11 points as Centre hit a cold spell, but the Colonels hung tough defensively to prevent the deficit from getting out of hand, only falling behind by seven points in the first half.
- Following a three from
Landen Hamilton and a putback by
Nolan Wahl, Centre cut the Berry lead to 26-24 before a Vikings three in the final minute gave Berry a five-point lead at the break.
- Berry stormed out of the gates in the second half, using a 12-2 run to take their largest lead of the game at 44-29 at the 14-minute mark. The Vikings had an answer for Centre's first two attempts at runs, but the Colonels made a massive push with eight minutes left.
- With the Colonels trailing by 13, Izaiyah got to the rack and converted a three-point play to make it 56-46. Centre pushed the tempo and created easy scoring opportunities for Wahl and
Ryan Shene as Centre capped off an 11-2 run with a driving basket from Wahl to cut the deficit to 58-56.
- After three free throws from Berry,
Kalib Thomas cut the margin in half with a three-pointer. Layups by Shene and Wahl then narrowed the margin to a single point, with the last one coming with 64 seconds left.
- The Vikings kept the door open for the Colonels with poor free throw shooting as Berry missed three of their final four shots from the line, but both of Centre's attempts at the go-ahead shot in the final minute were offline.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Thomas led all players with 16 points while also pulling down a career high eight rebounds.
- The Colonels held a huge advantage of 16-3 in fast break points.
NEXT UP
Centre will look to snap the skid on Sunday as they remain in Georgia for a road matchup against Oglethorpe.
