SUWANEE, Ga. - All 12 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball teams were in action the week of December 13-19 in their final games before the Christmas holiday. The league posted an 8-8 record in non-conference action while Millsaps beat Hendrix in SCAC play.

AROUND THE SCAC

Austin College lost its only game of the week, dropping a 69-62 decision to Texas-Dallas. Jordan Hancock (17 points) and Walter Phillips (16 points & seven rebounds) led the way for the Kangaroos. The ‘Roos trailed by nine, (33-24) at halftime. Texas-Dallas extended its largest lead of the game to 15, at 41-26, three minutes into the second half. Austin College was able to claw back and tie the game at 60-60 with a Hancock three-pointer with 3:35 left. However, the Comets used a 9-2 run to seal seven point win. The Kangaroos return to play on December 31 when they host a SCAC weekend-set with Southwestern (6 p.m.) and on January 2, hosting Trinity (3 p.m.).
 
Birmingham-Southern was at home this week, hosting the BSC Holiday Classic on Friday and Saturday. The Panthers defeated Covenant College on Friday, 69-60, and in-state rival Huntingdon College on Saturday, 92-85, and have now won 20 straight games at home, dating back to the end of the 2008-09 season. Junior Jasen Jonus led against Covenant with 19 points, and senior Patrick Price led against Huntingdon with 17 points. Jonus leads the team averaging 15.5 points a game, while sophomore Zac Richards leads on the boards with 5.8 rebounds a game. The Panthers are on break for the holidays and return to action at home on New Year's Eve against Sewanee at 5 p.m.
   
Centre defeated Asbury, 66-58 on December 16. The Colonels (6-1 overall, 2-0 SCAC) were led by center Alex Lloyd’s double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds. Greg Ross was the only other Colonel in double figures as he scored 10 in the win. Centre will enjoy a nearly two-week break for the holidays and then host the Papa John’s/Country Inn Hearth Tournament. The Colonels will take on Allegheny (Pa.) on December 28 at 7 p.m. and then play either Hanover (Ind.) or Ohio Northern at 5 or 7 p.m. on December 29.

Senior forward Brady Ohlsen recorded career rebound No. 600, but Colorado College dropped a 63-61 decision in overtime to Division II Colorado State University-Pueblo in its only game of the week. Ohlsen went on to post a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. He became the third player in program history to record 600 or more career rebounds and only the third player to have 600 rebounds and 1,000 career points in the exclusive club. The Tigers had a chance to tie the game at the final buzzer, only to see Ben Foley’s jump shot from the left baseline hit off the back of the iron and bounce away. The Thunderwolves built a 58-52 lead with 2:19 remaining in overtime, but CC pulled to within 62-61 when Nick Rose buried his fifth three-pointer with 47 seconds to go. Rose scored a game-high 21 points for the Tigers and moved into the top 10 on the program’s career scoring chart with 1,129 points. The Tigers are idle until Dec. 28 when CC plays the Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the first of two games at the 2010 D3Hoops.com Classic in Las Vegas.

Millsaps defended its home court to the final buzzer and managed to hold on to its advantage the entire way as the Majors outlasted Hendrix, 55-51, for the SCAC win on Friday afternoon at the Hangar Dome. Millsaps (5-3, 1-2 SCAC) earned the victory by nearly doubling Hendrix’s (2-6, 0-3 SCAC) chances from the charity stripe. The Majors were 18-of-23 from the line, while the Warriors went just 8-of-13 from line. Hendrix out-shot Millsaps from the field, 44.4 percent to 29.6 percent, respectively, and the Warriors owned a 30-14 advantage in the paint. The Majors scored 14 points off the Warriors’ 13 turnovers. Millsaps led by as much as six points in the first half and eventually took a 24-20 lead into the break. Sophomore Taylor Meades knocked down a 3-pointer to give Millsaps its largest lead of the game, 40-29, with 13:20 left on the clock. Hendrix trailed by 10 points, 44-34, with 9:50 to go before exploding for a 15-5 run over the next five minutes, knotting the game at 49-49 with 4:10 remaining. Junior Ammon Martin led Hendrix with eight points and a career-high 10 rebounds. Hendrix returns to Grove Gymnasium on Dec. 30 to host LeTourneau University at 7 p.m.

Millsaps went 2-1 this week with wins over LaGrange, 70-51, and Hendrix, 55-51, before falling at Rhodes, 58-56. Millsaps never trailed Monday against the Panthers, riding out a 20 point lead at the half to their fourth win of the year. Friday's game with Hendrix was the Majors' sole conference game this week. Junior guard Brian Merkel nailed a clutch jumper with 1:15 remaining to break a 51-51 tie. He followed that with a steal on the defensive end to regain possession for the Majors and closed the deal with a pair of flawless free throws to get Millsaps their first conference win of the season. Saturday's game up at Rhodes went down to the wire as well, but the last-second three- pointer from Nick Cortese missed its mark. The Majors will return to the Hangar Dome December 30 and 31 to host Rust, Belhaven, and Mississippi College for the Millsaps New Year's Classic.

Oglethorpe dropped two heart breaking games on their California trip. Down as many as 13 points, and down 11 with just under eight minutes left in the game, the Stormy Petrels used a 14-4 run to cut the Panthers lead to one but could not hold on in a 60-57 loss to open the West Coast trip. Oglethorpe was led by Todd Ward’s 18 points and seven rebounds. On Sunday against La Verne, Ward tallied game-highs of 21 points and 14 rebounds but that was still not enough in a 60-57 loss to the home-standing Leopards. Ward shot a sizzling 55.6 percent (10-of-18) from the floor. The double-double was Ward’s SCAC leading fifth double-double of the season. The Petrels return to action on New Year’s Eve and Jan. 2nd when they travel to SCAC rivals Rhodes and Birmingham-Southern, respectively.
  
Rhodes snapped its three-game losing streak with a 58-56 win over SCAC member Millsaps in a non-conference game. The Lynx were led by Josh Dunavant’s game-high 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting. He added five rebounds and also connected on 50 percent of his three-point shots (4-of-8). Sophomore guard Andrew Galow also chipped in with 15 points and seven rebounds for the Lynx. Rhodes (3-6 overall, 0-2 SCAC) takes a break for the holidays and returns to SCAC play on December 31 hosting Oglethorpe and January 2 hosting Sewanee.  
 
Sewanee hosted the 15th annual Lon Varnell Classic and dropped both of their games by three points or less this weekend. The Tigers, who were down by as many as 10 in Friday night’s game versus Webster, clawed their way back to within two, 59-57, with just two seconds left, but Tony Marelle’s full court prayer grazed the net and the Gorloks walked away with the two point win. Valentino Bryant led all scorers with 17 points, while Anvil Nelson added 15 points and six rebounds. On Sunday, the Tigers used a 12-0 run over a two-minute span to cut the Berry lead to just one. The Vikings hit a pair of free throws with just 19 seconds left on the clock to make it 65-62 but Sewanee was unable to get a shot to fall in the waning seconds and Berry walked away with a 65-62 win. Bryant led all scorers with 19 points in the contest. He was 6 of 9 from the field, including 3 of 4 from beyond the arc. Lewis Affronti added 12 points. Sewanee falls to 4-4 on the year. The Tigers will be back in action on December 31st, when they head to Birmingham-Southern.
 
Southwestern hosted the annual Southwestern/Trinity Classic this week and went 1-1 in games this weekend to move to 3-6 on the year. Friday night Southwestern used a last second three point shot from Demetrice Spearman with 30 seconds left in the game and then played solid defense Hardin-Simmons’ final shot was off the mark to win 60-59. The Pirates rode the momentum into Saturday's action against Albion College. The two teams were tied until the final seven minutes of the contest when the Britons got hot from long range and pulled away. Southwestern eventually fell 74-63. SU hosts Nebraska Wesleyan on Tuesday, December 28th before ringing in the New Year on the road against SCAC opponents Austin College on Friday night and Colorado College on Sunday.
  
Trinity won its first two games of the season last week, defeating both Albion and Hardin-Simmons at the Southwestern/Trinity Holiday Classic in Georgetown, Texas. The wins snapped the team’s six-game losing streak that started the season. In Friday’s win over Albion, Trinity actually trailed 28-22 at the half and by as many as 10 in the second half, but shot a blistering 65% from the field in the final 20 minutes to pull out the first victory of the season. The Tigers led by double digits at halftime of Saturday’s game against Hardin-Simmons, and opened up a lead of 24 points in the second half. Trinity will next play on December 29, hosting Nebraska Wesleyan, and will then continue SCAC play on the road against Colorado College and Austin College on December 31 and January 2.  Last season, Trinity swept Colorado College in two games, but lost twice to Austin College.  The Tigers swept the season series from both teams in 2008-09.

For the complete SCAC Men's Hoops Weekly for Week 5, click here.