SUWANEE, Ga. - Finally breaking the three-way tie for first place in the East Division, Centre College emerged with sole possession of first-place after beating Hendrix College and Millsaps College on the road. Meanwhile in the West Division, Trinity extended its winning streak to 15 games. The race for the final three SCAC tournament spots figures to be a tight one as five schools are separated by a mere three games.

AROUND THE SCAC

Austin split its weekend games with Birmingham-Southern and Rhodes over the weekend, holding off BSC for a 69-64 win before falling 86-75 to Rhodes on Sunday. Kola Alade had a career best 29 points in the win over the Panthers, in which the ‘Roos got out to a double digit lead before needing to fight off a late surge from BSC. Alade also had six rebounds in the game and went 8-of-13 from the field. Against Rhodes, the ‘Roos made up a 19 point deficit over the games final nine minutes but were unable to overtake the Lynx as the team fell to 9-8 overall and 3-5 in conference play. Alade once again led the way with 19 points, seven boards and five assists and Mark Foster came off the bench to score 15. Spencer Burke added 10 points, seven boards and three blocks. With the win over BSC on Friday, the ‘Roos have matched their overall win total from last season.  
 
Birmingham-Southern split two Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference games this week. The Panthers traveled to Sherman, Texas for a matchup with the Austin College Kangaroos. The Panthers hung tough, but came up short in a 69-64 decision. BSC was led by Aaron Parr who scored 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting. Also chipping in for the Panthers was Nathan West who tallied 15 points. BSC came away with a 54-51 win over Colorado College on Sunday. Parr once again led the Panthers as he scored 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-8 from behind the arc. Michael Rebarchak added 12 points in the winning effort. Birmingham-Southern will host Millsaps College on Friday, January 30 at 6 p.m. then host Hendrix College on Saturday, January 31 at 4 p.m.
   
No. 23 Centre continued its SCAC success by winning its two SCAC games this past weekend against Hendrix and Millsaps. In the first game of the road trip Centre defeated Hendrix College, 65-59. Two days later Centre defeated Millsaps College, 59-56, on a last second three-pointer by freshman guard Jeff Mullaney. The Colonels have now won six straight games versus SCAC opponents. With the two wins this past weekend the Colonels are now 14-3 on the year and 7-1 in the SCAC with home league games against Southwestern and Trinity up next.

Colorado College snapped a five-game losing streak when Jarrell Sweet scored on a driving layup with 2.1 seconds remaining in overtime against Rhodes. Sweet finished with 16 points four assists and four steals, including two in the final minute of OT, to set up his opportunity for the game-winning shot. Brady Ohlsen led the Tigers with 23 points and 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season, while Lance Jacobs had 10 points and tied his season high with five assists. CC also got a lift from Nate Brodman, who knocked down three of five three-pointers and finished with 12 points. The Tigers improved to 2-0 in overtime games this season. Colorado College matched its season low for points scored in Sunday's 54-51 loss to Birmingham-Southern College. The 54 points scored by the Panthers were the fewest allowed by CC this year.

DePauw opened the weekend with an 85-83 overtime win at Millsaps before its eight-game win streak came to an end at Hendrix on Sunday by a 78-67 score. Tony James hit a three-pointer with 16.8 seconds left in the first overtime of the Millsaps game and Steve Lemasters knocked in a pair of free throws with 5.8 seconds remaining to give the Tigers the win. Lemasters sent the game to overtime after his offensive rebound and layup tied the score at 72-72 with 4.3 seconds left. Mike Moore paced the Tigers with 28 points and hit 5-of-8 three-pointers, while Lemasters added 21 and Tom Callen followed with 14 points and eight rebounds. Tony James dished out six assists. In Sunday's game, Hendrix took a 12-point halftime lead and expanded it to as many as 19 points. The Tigers got as close as seven in the closing minute.

Hendrix split its two cross-divisional contests over the weekend with a 65-59 loss to Centre College on Friday night and a 78-67 win over DePauw University on Sunday afternoon. The Warriors are 12-6 overall and 5-4 in SCAC action as they head in to their final cross-divisional games at Rhodes College and Birmingham-Southern College next weekend. Centre College junior forward Danny Noll posted a game-high 17 points, nine rebounds and four steals to lead the Colonels in front of a booming Warrior crowd on Friday. Hendrix College first year forward Nick Heathscott led a balanced Warrior attack with 16 points on 7-of-7 shooting from the field to outlast SCAC foe DePauw University on Sunday. Hendrix used a 24-7 run which was capped off with a 3-pointer from first year guard Chris Goodman with 7:24 to go in the opening period and gave the Warriors a 29-14 advantage. DePauw managed to cut its deficit down to six points with 51 seconds left thanks to a 19-6 run.

Millsaps (5-13, 2-7 SCAC) was on the wrong end of two close weekend games, falling 85-83 in overtime to DePauw on Friday and 59-56 to Centre on Sunday. The Majors led by double digits at one point in both contests, but couldn't manage to pull out a victory. Against DePauw, senior Blake Martinez pumped in a career-high 29 points and Chris Sanders added a season-high 19 but that wasn't enough as All-American Mike Moore guided the Tigers to a come-from-behind win. In the finale against the Colonels, freshman Jeff Mullaney scored all three of his 3-pointers in the second half, including one with 0.3 seconds left in regulation that bounced off the front of the rim and banked in, as visiting Centre overcame a 7-point halftime deficit to top Millsaps. After going 0-for-12 in the first half from 3-point range, Centre hit 8-of-18 3s and shot 56 percent from the floor in the final period that proved to be the difference.  Millsaps will play its next four league games on the road, opening with SCAC-provisional member Birmingham-Southern on Jan. 30.

Oglethorpe lost both its contests in Texas this weekend to Southwestern and Trinity. Cold shooting (37%) doomed the Petrels on Friday night as they fell to the Pirates, 69-61. Despite the low shooting percentage, the Petrels only trailed the Pirates 32-28 at halftime. Following a lay-up by sophomore Alex Richey, Oglethorpe cut the lead to two at 45-43 with 11:19 to play in the contest. That's when Southwestern used a 15-5 spurt over the next 7:54 of clock time to put the game away. Junior Wade Weldon led the Petrels in both scoring and rebounding with 16 points and 11 boards on the evening. On Sunday against Trinity, Oglethorpe jumped out to a 21-9 lead early in the contest and looked poised to perhaps knock off a top-10 team in the road. The Tigers tried to dispel those notions by closing the half on a solid run to claim a 39-33 lead at the break. Trinity scored to go ahead 74-65 with only 4:04 left in the contest before the Petrels used a furious 9-0 run to the tie the game with 40 seconds showing on the clock. The run featured a 3-pointer from Alex Richey, a basket by David Allison, a steal and a hoop by Wade Weldon and two Allison free throws to tie the score. Charles Houston converted one of two free throw attempts with 17 seconds left to give Trinity the 75-74 win.  
  
Rhodes split a pair of games this weekend. Friday night they traveled to Colorado Springs to face Colorado College. Rhodes trailed by as many as 11 in the first half before a 9-0 run to start the second half catapulted the Lynx into the lead. Down by 5 with 25 seconds to play the Lynx got a 3 pointer from Jared Hoskins and forced a 5 second violation to get the ball back with 3 seconds to play. Cory Smith grabbed a missed three point attempt and made a short jumper to tie the game and force an overtime session. Sunday afternoon the Lynx were able to capture a conference win, beating Austin College 86-75. The Lynx spotted the Roos a seven point lead just a minute and half into the game. Rhodes opened the second half with a 12-0 run to push the lead to 17 points before an Austin comeback  brought the Roos to within two points, but the Lynx never lost the lead making 10 of 12 from the free throw line to win the game 86-75.
 
Sewanee fell to 4-12 and is 2-6 in the SCAC after dropping road games to Trinity and Southwestern this weekend. Seniors Ben Pursell and Bradley Pierson led Sewanee's scoring with 23 and 22 points on the weekend. Sewanee will play at Piedmont Tuesday before hosting Austin and Colorado Colleges this weekend in SCAC play.
 
Southwestern went 2-0 for the second weekend in a row to move to 13-5 overall and 4-4 in the conference. Friday, the Pirates matched up against Oglethorpe University at home and emerged victorious 69-61. The Pirates held the Tigers to 37.1% shooting from the field and 32.1% beyond the arc. In the second half of the game, SU shot 50% from both the field and behind the arc to help boost them to victory. The Pirates beat Sewanee on Saturday, 72-49. A strong second half once again helped Southwestern get the win. They again shot 50% or better from both the field (51.9%) and three-point (50%) range. Southwestern will look to extend their winning streak this weekend with away game at Center on Friday and at DePauw on Sunday.

No. 8 Trinity earned a conference weekend sweep against Sewanee and Oglethorpe on Friday and Sunday, extending the team's winning streak to 15 games. Trinity opened the weekend with a 55-40 win over Sewanee on Friday, shaking off a slow start to and cruising to victory.  B.J. Moon led the team with 16 points, while Dwight Lutz tied his career high with 15 points off the bench. On Sunday against Oglethorpe, the Tigers erased a 12-point first-half deficit on its way to a narrow 77-74 win. Trinity had a blocked shot and two turnovers in the final seconds of the game, sealing the victory despite nearly 60% shooting from Oglethorpe. Lutz set a new career high with 17 points - hitting five three-pointers - but it was a 10-18 shooting performance that led to a game-high 21 points from Luke Caldarera. He also led the team with eight rebounds, five assists, three steals, and a pair of blocks.

For the complete SCAC Men's Hoops Weekly for Week 10, click here.