SUWANEE, Ga. - The game of the week was between the Colorado College Tigers and the Birmingham-Southern Panthers on Jan. 16. Trailing by six with 1:48 remaining in regulation, the home-standing Panthers forced overtime and extended their home winning streak to 25 games, dating back to the 2008-09 season.

AROUND THE SCAC

Austin College split their games over the weekend against Birmingham-Southern and Rhodes, falling 81-68 to BSC before rolling to a 73-45 win over the Lynx. Against Birmingham-Southern, the ‘Roos trailed by just two at halftime but the Panthers were able to pull away in the second half despite 16 points from Jordan Hancock and 15 from Josh Saunders. The duo combined to hit 5-of-8 from long range in the game. Walter Phillips added 10 points and Scott Straley grabbed a team-best eight boards. Against Rhodes, Straley knocked down 4-of-5 threes on his way to 23 points and added five rebounds and Saunders and Phillips each chipped in with 13 points and seven boards while Hancock added 11 points. This weekend, the ‘Roos return home to host Sewanee on Friday and Oglethorpe on Sunday.
 
Birmingham-Southern added two more wins at home this week as they defeated Austin College, 81-68, Friday night, and Colorado College, 93-80, Sunday afternoon in overtime. The Panthers are riding a seven-game winning streak, and have now won 25 straight games at home, a streak dating back to the end of the 2008-09 campaign. The team is on the road this weekend, traveling to face Millsaps, Friday, and Hendrix, Sunday.
   
Following its first conference loss the weekend before, No. 24 Centre bounced back with a pair of SCAC home wins over Hendrix and Millsaps to improve to 11-3 overall and 6-1 in conference play. With the 68-56 win over the Warriors, the Colonels have now defeated Hendrix 16 straight times and now own a 26-5 record against the Warriors during the SCAC era. The last time Centre lost to Hendrix was February 20, 2000, a 65-64 loss in Conway, Ark. The 77-51 win over Millsaps marked one of the better shooting efforts this season by the Colonels. Centre shot 48.4% (30-61) from the floor, including 15 of 30 (50.0%) from beyond the three-point arc. The 15 three-pointers mark the most in a game by the Colonels this season and only the second time they have made at least 10 in a game (11 vs. Huntingdon). Centre will take to the road for a pair of SCAC contests this weekend against Southwestern and Trinity.

Brady Ohlsen knocked down seven of nine shots from the floor and finished with a game-high 16 points as Colorado College began the weekend with a 68-51 victory at Rhodes College on Friday. Nick Rose had 12 points, while Ben Foley added 10. Birmingham-Southern erased a six-point deficit with 1:48 remaining in the second half and exploited the Tigers’ foul trouble in overtime to escape with a 93-80 victory in a battle of division leaders. The loss snapped CC’s five-game winning streak, but they still hold a two-game advantage atop the SCAC’s Western Division with a 6-1 record. CC slipped to 10-6 overall. The Panthers tied the game at 73-73 by making three free throws with 19 seconds to play. The Panthers built a seven point lead before Colin Madden made a pair of free throws to pull the Tigers to within 80-75, but that was as close as Colorado College would get. Rose poured in 25 points before fouling out in overtime. CC plays at home for the first time since defeating Southwestern University on Jan. 2 when the Tigers play host to Oglethorpe on Friday night and Sewanee on Sunday.

Hendrix dropped a pair of conference games on the road this week at Centre and then at DePauw. The Warriors fall to 4-11 overall and remain winless in SCAC action at 0-7. Centre junior Gregg Ross scored 22 points, while senior Alex Lloyd posted a 19 point and 12 rebound double-double to lead the Colonels to a 68-56 win on Friday evening. The Colonels led the entire game and bridged intermission with a 17-2 run to reach a game-high 15-point advantage, 35-20, with 18:03 left in regulation.  Hendrix fought back from an eight point deficit with 13:16 left in the first half to tie the game at 18-18 with 5:34 to go. Sophomore Jaren Riley led Hendrix with 16 points on 7-of-16 shooting. Senior Ryan Rizos added 11 points and Nick Heathscott scored 10 points. DePauw scored over half its points in the paint and Hendrix shot a season-low 21.4 percent from behind the arc as the Tigers earned a dominant 74-52 victory on Sunday. Senior Dane Nielsen led Hendrix with a career-high 13 points.

Millsaps dropped a pair of road games against DePauw and Centre this week, falling below .500 to 7-8 and 2-5 in conference play. Friday's game at DePauw did not get out of reach until the second half, but the Tigers held the advantage all night with the exception of two ties late in the first half. Taylor Meades tied the game at 25 with 2:13 remaining in the half, but the Majors were unable to retake the lead before the break. The Tigers built off their 29-25 lead throughout the second half all the way to the final buzzer a three pointer with 22 seconds remaining kept the final within 20 for the Majors, setting the final at 67-48. Sunday afternoon the Colonels held a ten-point lead at the half, 40-30, and never looked back. Quinn Lemieux scored the game's first bucket in the opening minute to give the Majors their only lead of the game, 2-0. A three from Jeff Mullaney put the Colonels in front for good on the next possession. The game ended 77-51 to Centre. Millsaps will return to Jackson this weekend for another pair of games against SCAC-East opponents. The Birmingham-Southern Panthers come into the Hangar Dome on Friday at 8:00 p.m. before the Rhodes Lynx close out the week on Sunday afternoon.

Oglethorpe swept Southwestern and Trinity at home this past weekend to cap a 2-0 week. The men's basketball team dominated Southwestern on Friday night, 83-59. Oglethorpe also outscored Southwestern 20-0 in second chance points to out-hustle and out-muscle their way to the surprisingly easy victory. Alex Richey led six Petrels in double-figures with 15 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Alec Pitts had 13 points and 7 rebounds, Todd Ward added 12 points and 11 boards, Joe Kennedy netted 11 and Tyler Cerone 10. The Petrels notched thier third consecutive win on Saturday night by topping Trinity, 78-67. In a nip-and-tuck affair that included 12 second half lead changes, Kennedy scored 10 of his game-high 29 points in the final five minutes to guide the Petrels to victory. Oglethorpe is now 9-7 on the season and 5-2 in SCAC play. The Petrels are back in action this Friday at Colorado College.
  
Rhodes dropped both contests this weekend against Colorado College and Austin College. The Lynx could not find the bottom of the net this weekend shooting a staggering 29% on 31 for 106 shooting. Senior Josh Arant had solid contributions in both games averaging 10 points per. Next week puts the Lynx on the road Friday night versus Hendrix and Sunday afternoon at Millsaps.  
 
Sewanee rebounded from a tough loss on Friday night to Trinity in a big way, picking up their second SCAC win of the season over visiting Southwestern. After dropping a 58-40 decision to Trinity on Friday evening, Sewanee finished with four Tigers in double-figures on Saturday after using a 30-8 second-half run to put the Pirates away, 91-52. Against Southwestern, freshman Valentino Bryant led the way with 19 points, five assists and no turnovers. Sophomore Brett Bouldin added 17 points, all in the second half, on 5 of 7 shooting from beyond the 3-point line. Anvil Nelson finished with 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting for the Tigers and grabbed seven boards and two assists. Trent Williams chipped in 14 points. He also dished out three assists in the effort. In all, nine of 10 Tigers found the scoring column in the game. As a team, Sewanee put on their best shooting performance of the year in the contest, going 31 of 55 from the field (56.4%), 14 of 23 from the 3-point line (60.9%), and 15 of 22 from the free throw line (68.2%). With the 1-1 weekend showing, Sewanee moves to 6-8 overall and 2-5 in conference play. The Tigers will be back in action on Friday when they travel to Austin College for an SCAC match up with the ‘Roos.
 
Southwestern dropped two road games this week to fall to 4-12 on the year, 2-5 in the SCAC. The Pirates were out-rebounded 46-24 on Friday night as they fell to Oglethorpe 83-59 after falling behind early in the game. It was a similar story on Saturday night as the Pirates fell behind early and couldn't recover thanks to a sharp shooting Sewanee team. SU returns home this weekend to face Centre and DePauw on Friday and Saturday night.
  
Trinity split a pair of SCAC road games this past week, defeating Sewanee on Friday 58-40, but losing 67-78 to Oglethorpe on Saturday night. Robert Kitzinger and Luke Caldarera both averaged in double figures for the weekend, and both players scored 15 points in the loss to Oglethorpe. Caldarera scored his 1,200th career point in Saturday’s game and remains 13th on Trinity’s all-time scoring list. He is just 46 points from entering the top 10 in school history. Trinity will host Centre and DePauw in another SCAC weekend on Friday and Saturday. Trinity was swept by both teams on the road last season. Since 2005-06, the Tigers are just 1-7 against Centre and 2-5 against DePauw – including the SCAC Tournament.

For the complete SCAC Men's Hoops Weekly for Week 8, click here.