SUWANEE, Ga. - Buzzer beaters were the name of the game the week of January 23-29 as two league games ended in dramatic fashion. Millsaps junior guard Taylor Meades connected on a 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Majors over Southwestern, 65-64. Dallas sophomore guard Joe Stephens led the Crusaders to a 64-61 win over Sewanee with his own 3-point buzzer beater.

AROUND THE SCAC

Austin College split its two games over the weekend, falling 65-57 to Centre after having led by three at halftime, and then putting together its best performance of the season in a dominant 79-47 win over Sewanee to retain sole possession of first place in the SCAC West Division. Josh Saunders averaged a double-double over the weekend, putting up 16.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists while shooting 60% from the field, and Antoine Thompson averaged 8.5 points and 7.0 rebounds coming off the bench. Three players hit double figures in the win over Sewanee with Saunders leading the way with 18, Ransom Okpala finishing with 13 and Walter Phillips adding 10. Austin College heads out on the road this weekend when they take on Colorado College and Hendrix College in hopes of clinching a berth in the SCAC tournament.

No. 11 Birmingham-Southern added two more wins to their resume this week, defeating Colorado College and Hendrix to move to extend their winning streak to 11 games. Junior Zac Richards led all players against Colorado College with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting, and sophomore Griffin Schamp added 10 points. Against Hendrix, Richards and Schamp led a balanced scoring effort with 11 points each, and Richards also led with nine rebounds. BSC stays on the road this weekend, taking on Millsaps and Rhodes.

Centre took its annual trip to Texas this past week for a weekend showdown with Austin College and Dallas. The Colonels split the weekend series, defeating Austin College and losing at Dallas. Against Austin College, Centre fell behind by double figures early in the first half, but slowly chipped away at the lead and only trailed by three at the half. The Colonels outscored the Kangaroos 37-26 in the second half en route to a 65-57 win. Greg Ross posted game highs of 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Josh Karsner added 14 points. Against Dallas, the Colonels again fell behind early, but this time Dallas had answers to every attempted run as they pulled away to a 75-66 win. All five Centre starters scored in double figures, with Jeff Mullaney leading with 15. Centre plays one conference game this week, as they look to avenge a road loss to Sewanee on Saturday.

Colorado College lost at home for the first time in five tries this season, 53-42, to East Division leading Birmingham-Southern on Friday night. The Tigers produced a season-lows 42 points while shooting just 28-percent from the floor. Freshman forward Chris Lesnansky led CC with 12 points and tied for the team-high with six rebounds. During Sunday’s 61-58 victory over Oglethorpe, the Tigers built a 20-point lead seven minutes into the second half, but had to survive a nerve-racking final two minutes to hang on for the win. The Stormy Petrels were within a point with 45 seconds to go, but after a Colorado College possession, OU missed a jumper from the top of the lane with less than five seconds remaining and sophomore guard Chris Mayo-Smith sealed the victory for the Tigers from the free-throw line. Colorado College continues its four-game home stand this weekend when Austin and Dallas visit Reid Gymnasium on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

Dallas (6-14, 4-7 SCAC) was victorious in both games played on the week, a pair of home SCAC contests. Dallas won 64-61 over Sewanee on Friday evening. Tied 61-61 with 18 seconds remaining, freshman guard Kym Malone inbounded the ball from far sideline to sophomore guard Joe Stephens, who faked the hand-off pass back to Malone before proceeding to dribble twice and hoisted the game-winning 3-pointer from beyond NBA range. Against Centre, the Crusaders shot 44.2 percent (23-of-52) on the game and converted 75 percent (21-of-28) from the free-throw line en route to a 75-66 win over the Colonels. Junior forward Tanner Bruffey had a game-high 21 points for the Crusaders. Dallas returns to action with road games at Hendrix (Feb. 3) and Colorado College (Feb.5).

Hendrix split a pair of home SCAC games over the weekend. On Friday, they topped Oglethorpe 80-73 as junior guard Jaren Riley scored a career-high 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting. He was also 5-of-6 from three-point range. Senior guard Ammon Martin had 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists and senior guard Chris Goodman added 11 points and four assist. The Warriors shot 50 percent (29-of-58) from the field and made a blistering 59 percent of their shots in the second half. They also were 11-of-23 from three-point range. On Sunday, #12 Birmingham-Southern topped Hendrix 73-64. Riley once again led the Warriors with 15 points and Goodman added 14. Martin had 11 points, nine boards and seven assists and sophomore Colton Primm scored eight points to go with 10 rebounds. Hendrix will host Dallas on Friday and Austin on Sunday.

Millsaps played in two extremely tough games this in Texas this past week. With five seconds remaining against Southwestern and the Majors down by two, junior Taylor Meades buried his fifth three pointer of the half to drive Millsaps to a 65-64 win over the Southwestern Pirates. Meades led the way with 17 total points as he shot 6-of-10 from the field and 5-of-9 from behind the arch. Despite 23 points from Meades against Trinity, the Majors went the final 5:08 without a field goal as they fell to the Tigers on Sunday afternoon, 59-51. He finished with 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting. The Majors return to action this Friday at The Hangar Dome with a tough task as they welcome in No. 12 Birmingham-Southern. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m.

Oglethorpe saw its three game winning streak come to an end with two SCAC losses over the weekend. The Stormy Petrels dropped a tough game on the road to Hendrix on Friday, 80-73 before coming up short at Colorado College, 61-58. Against the Warriors, OU was led by Andrew Steioff’s team-high 17 points and team-high 8 rebounds. Against Colorado College, the Petrels were again paced by Steioff’s team-high 17 points on 8 of 15 shooting. The losses drop OU to 9-11 overall and 4-7 in SCAC play, just one game behind Sewanee for the final playoff berth in the East Division. Oglethorpe returns to action on February 3rd and 5th traveling to Rhodes and Millsaps, respectively.

Rhodes (13-7 overall, 8-3 SCAC) split two road SCAC games to Trinity and Southwestern this past week. The Lynx fell in San Antonio to Trinity, 66-50. Rhodes was done in by poor shooting as the Lynx shot 39 percent in the first half and just 36.4 percent in the second half. The Lynx were led by Andrew Galow’s 12 points. Against Southwestern, Rhodes was paced by Kory Kilpatrick’s 10 points and Theo Hartwell’s 11 rebounds in a 59-37 win over the Pirates. The Rhodes defense limited Southwestern to 20.4 percent shooting (11 of 54) in the game. The Lynx limited Southwestern to just 12.9 percent (4 of 31) shooting in the first half. Rhodes returns to action on Feb. 3 and 5 when they host Oglethorpe and 12th-ranked Birmingham-Southern, respectively.

Sewanee dropped a pair of road SCAC contests over the weekend. Sewanee lost a heart-breaking 64-61 contest at Dallas, Friday and then struggled in a 79-47 at Austin College, Saturday night. Sewanee is now 5-6 in the conference while holding a 10-8 record overall. The Tigers will take on LaGrange College on Wednesday, before returning to the road this weekend at Centre and Oglethorpe.

Southwestern dropped two games at home this weekend, to fall to 1-18 on the year and 1-9 in the SCAC. Friday night the Pirates led the majority of the second half but Millsaps stole the victory with a three-point bank shot from deep in the corner to take the lead for the first time since the 14 minute mark with five seconds left on the clock. With no timeouts left Southwestern inbounded the ball and got to their half but weren't able to get a shot off as they fell 65-64. Saturday night Southwestern struggled from the floor, scoring a season low 37 points while shooting 20.4% from the floor. Despite the poor shooting night the Pirates were within striking distance until the final minutes of the game, falling 59-37 to Rhodes. SU hits the road to face Trinity on Wednesday night in San Antonio and then hosts the Tigers on Saturday afternoon.

Trinity swept a conference weekend doubleheader over the weekend, defeating both Rhodes and Millsaps at home. The Tigers opened the weekend with a 66-50 win over Rhodes in which Trinity never trailed.  On Sunday, Millsaps made a bid to trip up the Tigers, but Trinity allowed just two points over the final 6:28 of the game to seal the win. With the wins, Trinity is second in the SCAC West Division, trailing Austin College by just one game, and leading Colorado College by a half-game. The Tigers will face Southwestern twice this week, playing the Pirates at home on Wednesday night, followed by a Saturday night road game in Georgetown, Texas.  Since 1984-85, Trinity is 33-13 against Southwestern, but the Pirates have won three times in the last five meetings – including a 22-point defeat in 2009-10. Of the 46 meetings, 32 have been decided by less than 10 points. There have been 20 games decided by five points or fewer between these two Texas teams. Since 1998-99, the teams have met 29 times, and all but five of those contests have been won by less than 10 points, and Trinity is 22-7 in those games.

For the complete SCAC Men's Hoops Weekly for Week 10, click here.