Photo by Matt Hembree
By Harry Davis
Executive Staff
On Saturday, February 18, the Sewanee Men’s Basketball team defeated the Centre Colonels at home 77-73.
Entering the last game of the regular season for the Tigers, Sewanee had dropped two of three. The Tigers lost 69-64 to Oglethorpe on February 5 despite winning the turnover battle 14-9. The Hendrix Warriors were next, having beaten Sewanee earlier this year; the Tigers used a strong game by Adrian Thomas (C’20) and Jorden Williams (C’17) to win 82-70. Sewanee finished this stretch of games with a tough loss to Rhodes 113-97.
Next up are the Centre Colonels, coming off two tough losses to Rhodes and Hendrix and looking to finish up the regular season on a high note before the Southern Athletic Association tournament. In the previous two games, Centre struggled shooting with a field goal percentage of 37.9% against Hendrix College.
Sewanee began the game dominantly, leading 13-2 less than seven minutes into the game. The Colonels called a timeout after this run as they tried to readjust their game plan. The timeout was ineffective as Sewanee expanded the lead 21-9 just past the midpoint of the half. The Tigers continued to dominate the first half as Centre’s shooting struggles continued, shooting a mere 34.8% field goal percentage in the first half as Sewanee’s Williams dominated with 16 points.
The second half showed that Centre would not go down easily as they opened with a 11-0 run to bring the score to 44-43 just under four minutes into the half. From this point on, Sewanee knew they had a dogfight as the Colonels fought to stay in the game. With under five minutes left, Centre took its first lead 61-59 as they went on a brief four-point run.
Sewanee then used a critical timeout with just under four minutes of play left to end whatever momentum this run had created. Following the timeout, Brody Stone (C’17) made two free throws and Cam Caldwell (C’19) made a statement dunk to end whatever hopes Centre had of a comeback. Sewanee from this point on never trailed shooting 6-8 free throws in the last 40 seconds to end the game.
Sewanee’s earlier losses were characterized by poor first half play, but this was not the case in this game, as Sewanee used a stifling defense as well as a great offense to lead Centre by 14 at half. Overall, this was a great finish to the regular season for the Tigers as the Colonels only held the lead once in the game and often were down double-digits.
As the regular season finishes, the SAA tournament process begins with Sewanee placed as the number four seed. The Tournament will be played at Rhodes College, in Memphis, with the Tigers playing the Hendrix Warriors Friday, February 24 in the first round.