MARIETTA, Ohio - Centre College mounted an impressive second-half comeback but could not overcome a 33-20 halftime deficit in dropping a 67-62 decision at 11th-ranked Marietta College in the first round of the 2011 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship tournament. Box Score
Centre (21-6) trailed the homestanding Pioneers 17-16 midway through the first half before Marietta went on a 16-4 run to end the first half. The Colonels got off to a slow start as they shot just 9 for 26 (34.6 percent) in the first 20 minutes compared to Marietta's 15 of 26 (57.7 percent). The Pioneers came into the game No. 10 in the nation in shooting percentage (49.5 percent).
Head coach Greg Mason and the rest of his Colonels team came out in the second half a different team as Centre's Donovan Whiteside cut Marietta's lead to 39-36 on a layup with 13:17 to play. Whiteside scored a game-high 18 points on 7 of 12 shooting in his first career NCAA tournament game. He also added six rebounds, three of which were offensive rebounds, on the night.
"That's kind of who we've been this year," said Mason. "We had the same philosophy in the second half, we just started making the shots."
SCAC tournament MVP Greg Ross picked up a technical foul and his fifth personal foul with Centre trailing 45-43 with 7:19 remaining. Just 18 seconds later, teammate Jeff Mullaney was also hit with a technical which helped the Pioneers maintain momentum down the stretch. Ross finished the game with 15 points and six rebounds on 7 of 13 shooting.
"We have not had a technical in seven or eight years," Mason said. "He's (Ross) our guy. In our conference championship against DePauw we went to him every possession at the end of the game."
Alex Lloyd, the 2010-11 SCAC Defensive Player of the Year, closed out his Centre career with five points and 10 rebounds.
Centre cut Marietta's lead to two, at 49-47 with just over five minutes left on an Alex Lloyd jumper. From there Marietta went on a 9-4 run over the next few minutes, capped by a Tyler Hammond 3-pointer that gave the Pioneers a 58-51 lead with just over a minute to play. That run essentially sealed the win for the Pioneers (26-3) as Centre could not overcome the deficit.
Marietta was led by Kevin Knab and Trevor Halter who each scored 15 points. With the win, Marietta will square off against Wittenberg University (20-8) in Saturday's second round at 7 p.m.
Wittenberg defeated Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference champion La Roche College (25-3) in the evening's first game.
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