Less than 24 hours after defeating Millsaps College in double-overtime, the Centre College men's basketball team showed no signs of fatigue, knocking the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference's preseason favorite Southwestern University out of the SCAC Tournament with a 77-55 victory, Saturday, Feb. 25, in Memphis, Tenn.
The game also saw the SCAC career-rebounding record change hands as senior forward Coy Zerhusen grabbed 12 rebounds to bring his career-total to 850, one more than the previous mark of 849 set by former Oglethorpe University standout Russ Churchwell.
The Colonels which, split the regular-season series with Southwestern, improves to 19-8, while the Pirates end the season with a 19-7 overall record.
Centre raced out to an early 10-3 lead sparked by two three-point baskets from junior forward Matt Jacobson. The Pirates answered with a 9-2 run to tie the game at 12 apiece with 13:23 left in the first half.
The Colonels went back ahead and with 2:16 left in the first period, went on a 8-0 run to close the half and take a 37-28 lead into the intermission. Centre, which has struggled at times this year to find points from its bench, outscored Southwestern 11-0 in bench points on 5 of 9 shooting from the field.
Centre continued to play well in the second half, slowly extending its lead to as many as 27 points at one time before finishing with a 22-point win. The Colonels were red-hot from the field in the second period shooting 65.2% on 15 of 23 shooting, while limiting Southwestern to only 30.4% on 7 of 23 shooting.
Centre also made an impressive 10 of 22 from the three-point line (45.5%) to the Pirates 28.6% (4-14) and out rebounded Southwestern 35-25.
Sophomore guard Matt Nestheide led the Colonels with 23 points on 6 of 12 shooting, including 4 of 6 from long range and 7 of 7 from the free throw line. Senior center Reggie Magnusson scored 18 points and grabbed six rebounds and Jacobson finished with 17 points on 6 of 9 shooting, including 5 of 8 from the three-point line.
Zerhusen, who needed 24 rebounds to tie the SCAC mark entering the conference tournament has combined for 25 in the first two games and will have a shot in the tournament championship game at breaking the Centre men's basketball rebounding record of 854, set by Kevin Lavin.
The Colonels will meet DePauw University, Sunday, Feb. 26, in the SCAC Tournament Championship game. The Tigers defeated both the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Rhodes College to get to the final game. Centre won both regular-season meetings between the two teams, needing overtime in both games.
It will be the second time the Colonels have advanced to the SCAC title game. They lost to Trinity 58-54 in 2003. Tip-off is slated for 12:00 p.m. CST in Memphis, Tenn.
Newspaper Box Score Centre College vs Southwestern University 02/25/06 1 p.m. at Memphis, Tenn. - Mallory-Hyde Gymnasium At Memphis, Tenn. - Mallory-Hyde Gymnasium CENTRE COLLEGE 77, SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 55 CENTRE COLLEGE (19-7) Matt Nestheide 6-12 7-7 23; Reggie Magnusson 9-11 0-0 18; Matt Jacobson 6-9 0-0 17; John Patterson 4-4 0-0 8; Coy Zerhusen 2-6 0-0 4; Adam Patterson 1-4 0-0 3; T.C. Thomason 1-3 0-0 2; Thomas Britt 0-4 2-2 2; Kyle Christopher 0-0 0-0 0; Ryan Crowdis 0-1 0-0 0; Rob Matthews 0-1 0-0 0; Kris Bentley 0-0 0-0 0; Stuart Rutledge 0-0 0-0 0; Kameron McRay 0-0 0-1 0. Totals 29-55 9-10 77. SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY (19-8) Jamonn Little 10-15 5-6 29; Robert Cates 6-11 5-8 17; Aaron Bowser 1-8 2-2 4; Mike Powell 0-2 2-2 2; Ty Ragland 0-3 2-4 2; Matt Caplan 0-3 1-2 1; Micah Salinas 0-0 0-0 0; Ben Sanders 0-0 0-0 0; Casey Gorder 0-0 0-0 0; Miles Elsey 0-0 0-0 0; Goran Stojcic 0-1 0-0 0; Danny Franklin 0-4 0-0 0; Andrew McDonald 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-47 17-24 55. Centre College................ 37 40 - 77 Southwestern University....... 28 27 - 55 3-point goals-Centre College 10-22 (Matt Jacobson 5-8; Matt Nestheide 4-6; Adam Patterson 1-3; Thomas Britt 0-2; Ryan Crowdis 0-1; Rob Matthews 0-1; Reggie Magnusson 0-1), Southwestern University 4-14 (Jamonn Little 4-5; Aaron Bowser 0-2; Mike Powell 0-1; Ty Ragland 0-1; Matt Caplan 0-1; Danny Franklin 0-4). Fouled out--Centre College-None, Southwestern University-None. Rebounds-Centre College 35 (Coy Zerhusen 12), Southwestern University 25 (Jamonn Little 8). Assists-Centre College 18 (Thomas Britt 4), Southwestern University 8 (Ty Ragland 5). Total fouls-Centre College 16, Southwestern University 16. A-350 2006 SCAC Men's Basketball Tournament - First Semifinal