JACKSON, Miss. – Centre basketball won its third consecutive game on Friday night as the Colonels completed the regular season sweep of the Millsaps Majors with an 80-73 victory on the road.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
- The Majors jumped out to a hot start as they shot well for the entire first half, taking an early 16-10 lead. Centre bounded back with seven straight points and took the lead on a
Drake Ingram three.
- The two teams continued to trade baskets before Millsaps outscored Centre 11-1, taking their largest lead of the game at 35-27 just before the final media timeout of the half. Centre chipped away at the lead as
Kalib Thomas converted from long range and
Landen Hamilton and
Ryan Shene made free throws in the final minute, narrowing the gap to 39-38 at halftime. The Majors shot 65 percent from the field in the opening half.
- Centre quickly regained the lead to start the second half when Hamilton hit Ingram on a nifty lob for a layup. Once again the Colonels and Majors traded the lead until Ingram caught fire yet again and scored ten straight Centre points, the last coming on a three-point play that stopped a Millsaps run and made it 53-51 in favor of the Colonels.
- The Colonels maintained a lead between two and five points before Millsaps rallied to tie the game at 62-62 with six minutes left. Thomas came up big with a basket just ahead of the shot clock buzzer to put Centre back on top and
Nolan Wahl added to the lead with two from the line.
- After a Millsaps three made it a 66-65 game, Ingram quickly responded with a bomb of his own to make it a two-possession game once again. Wahl made another clutch play as well when he tipped in his own miss to make it 71-66.
- Needing to score with just over a minute left to play, Hamilton connected on a jumper late in the shot clock to put Centre back up by five and the Colonels iced the game from the free throw line in the final minute.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Ingram led all players with 27 points, followed by Thomas with 20, Hamilton with 12 and Wahl with 10.
- Centre once again dominated the glass, holding a 42-33 advantage in rebounds and a 23-11 edge on the offensive boards. This led to yet another massive discrepancy in second chance points, with Centre outscoring the Majors 25-11 on extra opportunities.
- After allowing 65 percent shooting in the first half, Centre clamped down on defense in the second, holding the Majors to 38 percent from the field.
- Another strong defensive statistic for the Colonels was the turnover department as Centre forced 15 Millsaps turnovers, resulting in 18 points.
NEXT UP
The Colonels will play their final road game of the season on Sunday as they face no. 25 Rhodes in Memphis.
