Sophomore guard Tucker Sine (Bowling Green, Ky.) dropped in a game-high 23 points to pace the Centre men’s basketball team to a 77-67 Southern Athletic Association (SAA) road victory over host Oglethorpe on Friday night at Dorough Field House.
The Colonels open the 2017 portion of their schedule with the triumph, improving to 6-5 overall and 2-0 in SAA play. The Stormy Petrels fall to 4-9 on the season and 1-1 in conference action.
Early in the first half, Centre held a slim 6-4 lead when the Colonels used a 14-3 run keyed by six points from Sine to put Centre ahead 20-7 midway through the stanza.
Oglethorpe answered with an 8-2 surge to shrink the Colonels’ advantage to 22-15, before an old-fashioned 3-point play by freshman guard Perry Ayers (Bowling Green, Ky.) gave Centre a 25-15 lead with just over six minutes showing on the clock.
The Stormy Petrels would respond with a 13-3 spurt highlighted by three straight makes from behind the arc to knot the game at 28-28 with just under three minutes to play in the half.
Centre outscored Oglethorpe 5-2 the rest of the period to take a 33-30 edge into the break.
The Colonels came out firing in the second half, scoring the first eight points of the stanza, including 3-pointers by Sine and freshman guard Bailey Rakes (Mt. Washington, Ky.) to give Centre a 41-30 advantage.
The Stormy Petrels used a 9-3 run to cut the deficit to five points at 44-39 with 16:26 to play in the contest, but that is as close as Oglethorpe would come for the remainder of the night.
Centre went on a 9-3 surge of its own ignited by a jump shot by sophomore guard Jarod Griffin (Lexington, Ky.), as the Colonels gained a 53-42 lead with 12 minutes remaining.
Centre held a 10-point advantage at 60-50 with 8:46 showing on the clock when the Colonels put together a 10-1 spurt sparked by six straight points by freshman forward Jacob Bates (LaGrange, Ky.) to give Centre its largest lead of the night at 70-51 with just over five minutes to play.
The Stormy Petrels were able to cut the final margin to 77-67, as the Colonels boosted their record to 2-0 in SAA action.
Sine connected on 8-of-14 field goals, 6-of-9 3-pointers and 1-1 free throws in the win to go with a game-high five assists. The Bowling Green native has now combined for 56 points in his last two games, draining 13-of-23 shots from downtown in those contests.
Ayers chipped in 13 points off the bench, sinking 4-of-10 field goals and 5-of-5 shots from the charity stripe.
Junior forward Zach Schmucker (Cincinnati, Ohio) contributed a team-high eight rebounds off the bench for Centre.
George Andino led four Stormy Petrels in double-figures with 15 points followed by Justin Edwards with 13. Chris Lawrence and Mike Turner added 12 points apiece while Tom Inungu pulled down a game-high 10 boards for Oglethorpe.
Centre shot 45.9 percent (28-of-61) from the field, 42.9 percent (12-of-28) from behind the arc and 69.2 percent (9-of-13) from the free throw line, compared to the Stormy Petrels’ 43.9 percent (25-of-57) on field goals, 31.8 percent (7-of-22) from long range and 50.0 percent (10-of-20) from the charity stripe.
The Colonels outrebounded Oglethorpe 38-25 in the victory and held advantages of 19-7 in points off turnovers, 13-4 in second chance points and 30-15 in bench points.
Centre is back in action on Sunday afternoon with another SAA road matchup at Berry at 3 p.m. ET.
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