For the eighth straight year, the Centre College men's basketball team won its holiday tournament defeating Messiah College 60-56 in the championship game of the Papa John's/Country Hearth Inn Tournament, Saturday, Dec. 30, in Danville, Ky.
The Colonels, which have now won 16 consecutive games in the holiday tournament and four straight games this season, improve to 8-3 overall, while Messiah falls to 8-2 on the year.
Centre opened the game with a 12-4 run to take an eight-point lead with 14:37 to play in the first period. The Falcons closed the gap to one point (17-16) midway through the half, but the Colonels pushed the lead back to six points (26-20) before going to the locker room with a five point advantage (31-26).
Messiah trailed early in the second half, but a lay-up by Jared Yoder put the Falcons ahead by one point (40-39) for their first lead of the game.
The Colonels continued to trail until the 2:52 mark when junior guard Thomas Britt hit a lay-up to put Centre back in front 50-49. The Colonels pushed the lead to five points before finishing with the four-point victory.
Senior forward Matt Jacobson scored a game-high 23 points on seven of 10 shooting, including four of six from beyond the three-point arc. He also grabbed a game-high seven rebounds and added four assists. For his efforts, Jacobson was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
Sophomore forward T.C. Thomason scored nine points, while junior guard Matt Nestheide and freshman forward Danny Noll added eight points apiece. Senior center John Patterson was also named to the all-tournament team for his two-day effort.
Yoder finished with 21 points to lead Messiah. Yoder also had six rebounds, four assists and a steal in being named to the all-tournament team. Matt Henninger was the only other Falcon in double figures scoring 13 points with four rebounds and two steals. Henninger was also named to the all-tournament team.
In the consolation game earlier in the day, St. Norbert College defeated Geneva College 79-69 to finish in third place. Tom Katzfey of St. Norbert and Kyle McDermott from Geneva were selected to the all-tournament team.
Centre will return to Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference action Friday, Jan. 5, when it travels to Atlanta, Ga. to play Oglethorpe University. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m.
Newspaper Box Score Messiah College vs Centre College 12/30/06 3:00 pm at Alumni Gymnasium @ Danville, Ky. At Alumni Gymnasium @ Danville, Ky. CENTRE COLLEGE 60, MESSIAH COLLEGE 56 MESSIAH COLLEGE (8-2) Jared Yoder 10-18 0-1 21; Matt Henninger 4-8 4-4 13; Drew Sneeringer 3-10 0-0 8; Jason Miller 2-6 0-0 5; Ryan Witmer 2-4 0-0 5; Darryl Brown 1-5 0-0 2; Bo Miller 1-2 0-0 2; Andy Hawk 0-0 0-0 0; Kyle Snyder 0-1 0-0 0; Jonathan Boyd 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-56 4-5 56. CENTRE COLLEGE (8-3) Matt Jacobson 7-10 5-6 23; T.C. Thomason 3-5 2-3 9; Danny Noll 3-6 0-1 8; Matt Nestheide 2-11 4-4 8; Thomas Britt 2-5 0-0 5; Kris Bentley 1-2 0-0 3; Beau Braden 1-3 1-1 3; John Patterson 0-0 1-2 1; Ross Herman 0-0 0-0 0; Ryan Crowdis 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 19-46 13-17 60. Messiah College............... 26 30 - 56 Centre College................ 31 29 - 60 3-point goals-Messiah College 6-19 (Drew Sneeringer 2-6; Matt Henninger 1-3; Jason Miller 1-3; Jared Yoder 1-2; Ryan Witmer 1-1; Kyle Snyder 0-1; Jonathan Boyd 0-2; Darryl Brown 0-1), Centre College 9-27 (Matt Jacobson 4-6; Danny Noll 2-4; T.C. Thomason 1-2; Kris Bentley 1-2; Thomas Britt 1-4; Ryan Crowdis 0-2; Beau Braden 0-1; Matt Nestheide 0-6). Fouled out--Messiah College-None, Centre College-None. Rebounds-Messiah College 34 (Jared Yoder 6), Centre College 29 (Matt Jacobson 7). Assists-Messiah College 9 (Jared Yoder 4), Centre College 12 (Matt Nestheide 4; Matt Jacobson 4). Total fouls-Messiah College 19, Centre College 12. A-145 Championship game of Papa John's/Country Hearth Inn Tourn., hosted by Centre. Centre wins the tournament, Messiah places second. All Tournament Team:St Norbert-Tom Katfey, Geneva-Kyle McDermott, Messiah-Matt Henninger, Jared Yoder, Centre-John Patterson, Matt Jacobson/MVP