SUWANEE, Ga. - The SCAC tipped off the 2009-10 men's basketball season with games Nov. 15-22. The season got off on the right foot when the Austin College Kangaroos came back and upset #12 Texas-Dallas, 79-77 in overtime in the season opener.

AROUND THE SCAC

Austin College has gotten off to its best start in recent memory, opening the year 4-0 with wins over #12 UT-Dallas, LeTourneau, Rust College and Sul Ross State. In the season opening upset over the nationally ranked Comets, the ‘Roos came from behind to force overtime, where they jumped ahead by five points and never looked back on their way to a 79-77 victory. Kola Alade scored 15 points in the win, 13 of which came in the second half and overtime. Scott Straley set career highs in consecutive games, first by scoring 21 in a 72-63 win over LeTourneau and then following that up with 22 points in an 80-66 win over Rust. The ‘Roos closed out their opening week with a 77-63 victory over Sul Ross with Alade once again leading the way with 24 points and nine rebounds. Alade averaged 18.8 points per game over the first four games. The ‘Roos will once again face UT-Dallas this week when they travel to Richardson on Tuesday.

Birmingham-Southern is off to a 3-0 start to open the season with wins over LaGrange College, the University of the Ozarks, and Pensacola Christian. The Panthers won Monday night 72-52 over a tough LaGrange team in the season openers for both squads, then they came into last weekend with Ozarks and PCC. Friday in a 91-70 win over Ozarks, Freshman Jasen Jonus led the Panthers with 16 points for a young career high, setting the mark fairly high in only his second collegiate contest. Then on Saturday, Senior Aaron Parr took over the lead with 16 points in the Panthers’ 84-66 win over the Eagles. BSC outscored their three opponents by a combined 59 points over the three games. With the week off for the Thanksgiving holidays, the Panthers have their first road game slated for November 30 against the same Pensacola Christian Eagles, this time in Florida. Game time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

For only the second time in the last 11 seasons, No. 21 Centre opened the season with a pair of losses, falling 72-70 to Maryville and 68-60 to Transylvania. The Colonels' offense struggled to open each game, shooting a combined 30.6% (15-49) from the floor and averaging 22 points in the opening period. Centre will look to avoid going 0-3 to open the season for the first time during the SCAC era when they host Franklin Tuesday, Nov. 24.

Colorado College junior guard Nick Rose scored 23 points to lead a balanced offense as the Tigers defeated Division II CU-Colorado Springs, 78-72, in the season opener on Friday night on the Mountain Lions’ home court. The victory was Colorado College’s first against its cross-town rival since the 2004-05 season when the Tigers swept both games of a home-and-home series. Since then, UCCS had won four in a row, the last during the 2007-08 campaign. CC put the game away by converting on 17 of 18 free throw attempts during the final 4:36. In his first collegiate game, Ryan Harty made seven of eight free throw attempts down the stretch and finished with 11 points. Colorado College had a 47-35 advantage on the boards CC defeated Bethany College, 80-70, on Saturday afternoon to earn a share of the 2009 Marriott Mountain Lion Classic title.

DePauw opened the season by winning the Albion College Classic title after defeating Bluffton (50-45) and Albion (78-73). Bluffton closed the margin to one with 17 seconds left, but the Tigers hit four free throws in the final 11 seconds. Steve Lemasters led DePauw with 13 points, while Sean Haseley added 10. In Saturday's title game, tournament MVP Steve Lemasters scored a game-high 22 in leading the Tigers to the win. DePauw led by as many as 20 in the second half and held a 12-point lead with 52 seconds left before the Britons closed to within three in the final five seconds. Lemasters hit a pair of free throws with four seconds left to seal the win. Sean Haseley also earned a spot on the all-tournament team and finished with 18 points with four three-pointers.

Hendrix is off to a 2-1 start after dropping its season opener to University of the Ozarks on Nov. 15 and then sweeping its competition this past weekend at the Rhodes Tip-Off Classic. The Warriors won a pair of close games against Westminster College on Friday and Greenville College on Saturday. The Warriors shot just 33 percent against the Eagles, including an ice cold 27 percent effort in the second half. Hendrix won an 80-78 contest over Westminster and an 85-76 come-from-behind win over Greenville at the Rhodes College Tip-Off Classic. Warriors’ sophomore guard Chris Goodman ignited a 25-7 run on a long ball with 10:01 left in regulation against Greenville and senior guard Cal Rose put the game away at the end of the run with back-to-back-to-back three pointers.

Millsaps split its opening two games of the 2009-10 campaign, falling to cross-street rival Belhaven College 84-69 on Tuesday and rebounding to defeat Pensacola Christian, 71-59 on Friday. Seniors Blake Martinez and Cameron Varnado led the way offensively on the weekend, with Varnado pouring in a career-high 22 points against the Blazers, and Martinez scoring 27 points off six 3-pointers against the Eagles. The Majors will hit the road for their next six contests across five states, beginning with the University of Dallas Tuesday at 8 p.m.

Oglethorpe split its opening two games of the season this past week. Both games went to overtime with the Petrels falling to Emory, 85-81 and topping Methodist, 87-85. After trailing by as many as fifteen points and being down by twelve at the half against Emory, Oglethorpe stormed back to take a six point lead heading into the game's final 60 seconds. The Petrels missed six consecutive free throws in the waning seconds to open the door for the Eagles who promptly took advantage. Against Methodist, the Petrels trailed for much of the first half before heading to the locker room down three at the break, 33-30. The Petrels found the range in the second half and opened up an eleven point lead with 7:18 to play. The Monarchs rallied, however, by forcing turnovers and getting some key misses from the Petrels at the free throw line. In overtime, the score was tied at 85 with only seconds remaining, Joe Kennedy finished with a lay-in off the glass to give Oglethorpe the victory.

Rhodes played three games during the opening week of the season. They started their season with a road victory over Principia College 89-51. The Lynx placed four players in double digits, led by senior Reid Hamilton’s double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds. Fellow seniors, Larry Cunningham and Andrew Sillyman scored 16 and 11 respectively, while sophomore Kory Kilpatrick added 10 points and eight rebounds in the victory. Rhodes opened their home season with a 71-67 victory over visiting Greenville College. They Lynx again had three players in double digits, led by Hamilton’s 21 points, Andyshea Saberioon scored a career 18 points and freshman Andrew Galow netted 11. Kilpatrick and Hamilton had 6 rebounds to lead the Lynx. In the 80-79 loss to Westminster, Rhodes again got balance scoring from four players. Hamilton continued his hot start scoring 22 points and Galow scored a career high 19 to go along with six assists. Saberioon netted another 16 points. Rhodes will be back in action as they host the Thanksgiving Classic by Hampton Inn-Poplar this weekend.

With several key starters out with injury, Sewanee’s freshmen stood out Saturday as the Tigers topped Covenant 57-50 after trailing 23-22 at the half. The lead changed hands 12 times in the struggle, but Sewanee came out on top with the seven-point win. Newcomer Lewis Affronti led Sewanee's scoring with 14, while fellow freshman Tyler Brown led with 12 rebounds. Defensively, freshman Andrew Little had four steals on the day. Junior Garrett Hollingsworth also logged double-digit scoring with 11 points and sophomore Sam Martin had two blocks on the day. Sam Bowman led Covenant's charge with 17 total points. Sewanee is now 1-0 and will host LaGrange Tuesday night at 7 pm in Juhan Gym.

Southwestern has opened the season 2-1 with three games on the road. They started at the University of Dallas on Sunday the 15th having their first game go down to the wire as the Pirates hit their free throws down the stretch to hold on for the 48-46 win. With one win in the bag SU headed to Chicago for the University of Chicago Tournament. They faced former SCAC opponent Rose Hulman in the opening round and struggled from the field, falling 56-50 to the Engineers. In the consolation game the Pirates rebounded, shooting nearly 54% from the floor two win 80-70 over Earlham College. Southwestern had a consistent team effort over the first three games with a different player holding the leading scorer position. The Pirates have a quick turnaround as they head to Abilene, Texas on Tuesday before heading into the holiday break.

Trinity opened up the season with a 1-3 overall record, but won its last outing 61-52 at Schreiner University. All four of Trinity’s games have been on the road to start the season, and the Tigers will not have a home game for the entire month of November. Trinity opens up its home schedule – and SCAC schedule – by hosting Southwestern on December 3. Luke Caldarera has posted three straight double-doubles for the Tigers, while Michael Tobolowsky is second on the team in scoring with 12.0 points/game. Trinity will not play again until the December 3 home game, then will play four games in Texas over the last two weeks of December.

For the complete SCAC Men's Hoops Weekly for Week 1, click here.