Men's Basketball News
Late rally comes up short as men fall 72-70 to Maryville
For only the second time in the last nine years, the Centre College men's basketball team dropped its season-opening game as the Colonels' rally came up short in a 72-70 loss to visiting Maryville College, Wednesday, Nov. 18 in Alumni Gymnasium in Danville, Ky.
The Colonels fall to 0-1 to start the season, while the Scots, who won their season-opener against Methodist, improve to 2-0 in the early going.
Maryville scored the first points of the game and would lead the entire half. Down 9-3 early in the game, the Centre pulled within one (11-10) at the 12:55 mark, but the Scots began to stretch the lead, pushing it to eight points (23-15) with 7:27 to play in the opening period.
Trailing 25-20 at the 5:01 mark, the Colonels were out-scored 15-4 to close the half to trail by 16 points (40-24) at the break.
Maryville led 48-30 early in the second half when senior forward Danny Noll (Ft. Mitchell, Ky.) became just the 27th player in Centre men's basketball history to record 1,000 career points when he hit a lay-up at the 16:10 mark.
The Scots continued to control the game leading by 10 or more points until the 7:09 mark when freshman guard Bryon Ellis (Russell Springs, Ky.) hit two free throws to cut the lead to nine points (57-48).
Maryville answered scoring eight of the next 10 points to go back in front by 15 (65-50) with only 4:59 to play.
Centre started chipping away at that lead as freshman forward Josh Crawford (Corbin, Ky.) hit a three-pointer and a lay-up to cut the lead to 10 points (65-55).
After trading free throws, sophomore guard Jeff Mullaney (Louisville, Ky.) hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to eight (67-59). Following a Maryville turnover Ellis knocked down another three pointer to make it a five-point game (67-62).
The Scots hit three straight free throws to push the lead back to eight, but Ellis again, knocked down a three-pointer to cut it to five (70-65). Noll then knocked down a three pointer of his own and the lead was only two (70-68).
The Colonels then fouled Jordan Damron, who hit both free throws to make it a four-point game and Mullaney's bucket with 0.4 seconds left cut the lead to two, but the game would end on the ensuing in-bound pass.
Maryville finished the game shooting 42.6% (26-61) for the game, including 16-18 from the free throw line, while Centre shot 40.6% (26-64), but only 31.3% (10-32) in the first half.
Greg Hernandez led all scorers with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Hernandez made nine of 14 shots in 33 minutes of action. Guard Eryk Watson also finished in double figures with 12 points.
All five starters finished in double figures for Centre led by Crawford's 17 points and eight rebounds. Junior Alex Lloyd (Lexington, Ky.) tallied a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Ellis finished with 14 points, while Mullaney added 13 and Noll 11 in the defeat.
The Colonels will look to bounce back Saturday, Nov. 21 when they travel to Lexington, Ky. to play in-state rival Transyvlania University. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m. |
