SUWANEE, Ga. - The first weekend of SCAC East/West Crossover action saw Centre, DePauw, and Oglethorpe all keep pace as the three teams are still tied for first place in the East Division at 5-1. In the West, Trinity stretched its winning streak to 13 straight with two league wins to move to 6-0. Hendrix, Austin, Southwestern, Millsaps and Colorado College are now seperated by a mere three games for second through sixth-place.

AROUND THE SCAC

Austin dropped a pair of conference games over the weekend, falling 73-59 to Centre on Friday and 77-59 on Saturday to drop them to 8-7 overall and 3-4 in SCAC play. Against DePauw, the ‘Roos managed just 35.8% shooting on their way to the loss. Kola Alade scored 21 points and added seven rebounds and four assists, and Chris Sturtevant chipped in with 11 points. Against Centre, the teams traded baskets for most of the first half but a big run to start the second half by the Colonels put the game away. The Colonels shot 58% from the field while the ‘Roos mustered just 39.7% shooting. Alade led the way again with 17 points and six boards and Sturtevant added 14 points. Austin College is back at home this weekend for the first time since January 3 when they host Birmingham-Southern on Friday.  
 
Birmingham-Southern's (7-8) woes continued, dropping both home games last week falling 65-56 to Trinity and then 62-56 to Southwestern.  The game on Friday was tied at 42 with just over ten minutes to go.  The Trinity outscored the Panthers 23-14 in the final minutes, due in large part to Trinity's free-throw shooting.  The Tigers hit 16-of-19 attempts from the line from the ten-minute mark to the end of the game, BSC hit just 6-of-11 over the same period.   On Saturday, Southwestern held the Panthers scoreless for a nine-minute stretch straddling both halves.  Mark Messenger finally broke run at the 15:45 mark with a free-throw, but the damage had been done, the Pirates held an 11-point lead, 41-30.  The Panthers would not lead again.  The Panthers will be on the road next weekend.  On Friday they travel to Austin College before heading up to Colorado Springs on Sunday to take on the Colorado College Tigers at 3:00 p.m.
   
Centre continued its SCAC success by defeating both Colorado College and Austin College this past week. The Colonels have now won four straight SCAC games. The Colonels defeated Colorado College, 66-51, in the weekend's first SCAC game and one day later defeated Austin College, 77-59. The Colonels have now their past four SCAC games by a double-digit margin. The Colonels are now 12-3, 5-1 in the SCAC with road league games against Hendrix and Millsaps up next.

Colorado College lost at Centre College and DePauw University to remain winless on the road this season. The Tigers led by as many as 10 points on two occasions in the first half at Centre, but could not overcome a 26-7 run by the Colonels at the end of the first half. Brady Ohlsen led CC with 15 points and seven rebounds. Jarrell Sweet added 11 points and game highs of eight rebounds and six assists. Nick Rose finished with 10 points, but the rest of the team could muster only 15. Against DePauw, the Tigers made just 14 of 50 shots from the field and were held to their lowest point total of the season in a 76-44 loss. Lance Jacobs had 13 points and Sweet finished with 11 to pace CC. Jacobs became the 18th Tiger to reach the 900-career point plateau and finished the game ranked No. 17 with 910. Colorado College will play its first home game since Dec. 6 next Friday when the Tigers play host to Rhodes College.

DePauw extended its win streak to seven and have won 12 of their last 14 after defeating Austin (73-59) and Colorado College (76-44). DePauw scored seven straight late against Austin to pull away for the win as Mike Moore led the Tigers with 15. Tom Callen recorded his third double-double of the season with 12 points and a career-high equaling 11 rebounds. In Sunday's win over Colorado College, DePauw scored the games first eight points and led 43-14 at halftime. Moore and Steve Lemasters each scored 14 in the win, while Callen had 10 points and nine rebounds. Moore has moved into 12th place on DePauw's all-time scoring list with 1,283 career points. Along with his 521 assists, he is the only player in school and SCAC history with at least 500 assists and 1,200 points. He also moved into third on DePauw's all-time list with 211 three-pointers.

Hendrix suffered a pair of conference loss over the weekend with the first at Oglethorpe University on Friday and second at Sewanee on Sunday. The Warriors fell to 11-5 overall and 4-3 in SCAC play. Oglethorpe used a balanced scoring attack with five players in double digits and held off a late surge to hand Hendrix an 80-77 loss Friday night. Oglethorpe blazed the nets on 55.6 percent shooting from the field in the opening 20 minutes, while the Warriors shot just 33.3 percent. Hendrix finally managed to put together a run and make some stops with just over six minutes remaining. Senior forward David Foley posted a game-best 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field, including three long balls. Sewanee used a 21 point, 19 rebound performance from senior forward Ben Pursell and a strong second half to post a 70-58 victory over the Warriors on Sunday afternoon. Hendrix shot 44 percent from the field in the first half, while Sewanee shot just 29 percent. The Tigers torched the net in the second half with 57.7 shooting, while the Warriors shot just 29 percent. Sewanee out-rebounded Hendrix 46-30.

Millsaps (5-11, 2-5 SCAC) picked up its first road win of the season against Sewanee by the score of 58-56, before losing a tough 68-54 game to Oglethorpe University. In the win over the Tigers, two Majors were able to score in double figures led by senior guard Chris Sanders who had 18 points, seven boards and two steals and assists apiece. Chris Ingle had a solid showing with his 13 points and five boards. Rounding out the scoring for the Majors was Chad Songy with nine points and five assists. In spite of some solid defense by the Majors who forced 18 turnovers and recorded 10 steals, the Stormy Petrels were too much and picked up a win by the score of 68-54. Martinez led all scoring for the Majors with a team-high 22 points. Sanders contributed in a big way with a team-high five steals to go along with 12 points and one assist, joining Sanders in scoring was classmate Songy who had eight points. The men's team now comes back to the Hangar Dome to take on DePauw University on Friday night.

Oglethorpe continued its hot play by sweeping two games over SCAC West foes Hendrix and Millsaps this past weekend. The men were able to take care of a Warrior squad on Friday that was forced to play without the services of all-conference performer Andrew King. The Petrels were able to dominate the early stages of the game and looked poised to coast to an easy victory before a furious Hendrix rally nearly shocked the home crowd. Leading 73-51 with 6:12 to play, Oglethorpe saw the Warriors close the game on a 26-7 run before squeaking out the 80-77 win. Todd Ward led Oglethorpe with 21 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists and sophomore Alex Richey netted 17 points. On Sunday, the Petrels took care of Millsaps by dominating the glass (33-23) to record second chance points (bested the Majors 13-2) and killing the Majors in the paint by a margin of 34-14 on their way to a 68-54 victory. Ward again led the way for Oglethorpe by posting 14 points and 14 rebounds on 7 of 8 shooting from the field. The win lifted Oglethorpe to a 12-3 (5-1) overall record.  
  
Rhodes dropped a pair of games this week. The Lynx lost to Southwestern on Friday night when a last second shot fell for the Pirates. Cory Smith and Nathan Ollie led Rhodes, each tallying a game high 21 points. Andyshea Saberioon scored 15 for the Lynx. The Lynx then fell to the Tigers of Trinity University. The Lynx trailed by as many as 32 points in the first half before going on 22 point run spanning the final four minutes of the first half and first 3 of the second to cut the lead to 8 points. Rhodes cut the lead to 5 points with around 4 minutes to play but could not overcome the deficit and fell 83-77. Rhodes will travel to Colorado College and Austin College this weekend as they seek their first conference win of the season.
 
Sewanee went 1-1 this weekend after falling in a near miss to Millsaps on Friday and then topping Hendrix 70-58 on Sunday. In Sunday's win, senior Ben Pursell logged a double-double with 21 points and 19 rebounds. Bradley Pierson scored 32 on the weekend and is averaging 18 points per game. The Tigers are 4-10 and 2-4 in the league. They will face Trinity and Southwestern in Texas this weekend.
 
Southwestern went 2-0 on the week to move to 11-5 overall and 2-4 in the conference. Friday, the Pirates traveled to Rhodes and defeated the Lynx 80-78 thanks to a last second shot by junior guard Anthony Cox. Cox led the Pirates in three categories on the night by scoring 19 points, dishing out 6 assists and recording 4 steals. Saturday, SU took on Birmingham-Southern and emerged victorious once again defeating BSC 62-56. Cox once again led the Pirates with 15 points, shooting a perfect 3-3 from behind the arc and 6-6 from the free throw line. The Pirates return to action at home this week against Oglethorpe on Friday and Sewanee on Saturday.

No. 10 Trinity earned a weekend sweep in SCAC play on the road, defeating both Birmingham-Southern and Rhodes on Friday and Saturday to extend the team's winning streak to 13 games.  That win streak is Trinity's best in the SCAC era, eclipsing a 12-game streak during the 2004-05 season. The Tigers hit 6-6 from the foul line in the final minute to ice the win against Birmingham-Southern on Friday, then survived a furious comeback by Rhodes to hold on for Saturday's win.  Trinity again hit 6-6 from the free throw line to escape with the win, nearly letting a lead that was over 30 points slip away. Patrick Robinson hit four free throws against BSC and two against Rhodes to help seal wins on both nights.  Robinson averaged 15.0 points and hit 11-11 from the free throw line over the weekend. Jonathan Lewis averaged 13.5 points/game and Luke Caldarera scored 11.5 points/game over the weekend, while Charles Houston averaged 9.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game.

For the complete SCAC Men's Hoops Weekly for Week 9, click here.