Petrels Let One Slip Away Against Centre

The Oglethorpe University men's basketball team lost to Centre College in Danville, Kentucky in a taut, overtime SCAC matchup on Friday night, 59-58. The Petrels let a 14 point second half lead slip away against the Colonels and their six game winning streak along with it.

Oglethorpe looked poised to claim a huge road conference win after jumping on the Colonels early on for a 30-26 halftime lead that swelled to 47-33 following an Erik Strong basket with 12:07 remaining in the contest. The Petrels went cold, however, and the Colonels put together a 22-8 run as the clocked tick down to send the game to overtime. The run included the Colonels scoring 5 straight in the final 32 seconds of regulation to force the extra five minutes.

In overtime, the Colonels took their first lead of the entire game with 4:02 left on a basket by Danny Noll. Oglethorpe managed to reclaim the lead, 58-57, on a jumper by Todd Ward with only 29 seconds remaining but Centre's Jeff Mullaney hit a jumper with 5 ticks left to lift Centre to the win.

The Petrels held the Colonels to 30% shooting on the night (23-76) but Oglethorpe did not make a field goal in the final 6:41 of regulation as Centre climbed back into the game. Todd Ward scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and Alex Richey posted 13 points and had 7 rebounds in  the loss

With the loss the Petrels are now 8-4 on the season and 3-1 in SCAC play. Oglethorpe faces DePauw this Sunday in Indiana at 2:00 p.m.