Cold First Half Dooms Petrels Against Colonels

The Oglethorpe University men's basketball team lost to Centre College on Pinholster Court on Friday night, 70-62. The Petrels were done in by a 21% (6-29) shooting performance in the first half that sent them to the locker room trailing 38-19.

The Colonels stretched the second half advantage to 54-32 with 12:37 remaining before Oglethorpe staged a spirited rally keyed by the defensive efforts of the reserve players. Erik Strong scored consecutive hoops to lower the Colonel lead to 17 points (56-39) and then Christian Molinet forced a steal and scored on two straight possessions himself to bring the score to 56-44 with 7:31 to play. E.C. Williams forced another Centre turnover and Alec Pitts scored a lay-up to slice the lead to 10 at 56-46 with 6:31 showing.

The Colonels got a huge three-pointer from Byron Ellis to stem the 14-2 Oglethorpe run and bolster Centre's lead back to 13. Yet, Oglethorpe made another run and, after a steal by Joe Kennedy and lay-in by David Allison, the Centre lead was only 7 with 3:03 to play. The Petrels forced another turnover and had a Todd Ward three-pointer to pull the Petrels within 4 go begging off the back iron. Ellis then drained a dagger three on the ensuing possession for Centre and put the game out of reach with 2 minutes remaining.

The Petrels were led by Todd Ward's 20 points and 9 rebounds on the evening. Allison was the only other Petrel in double-figures with 13 in the home conference loss.

Oglethorpe is now 12-10 on the season and 7-7 in SCAC play. The Petrels will lace them back up on Sunday afternoon against DePauw on Pinholster Court at 2:00 p.m.