COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Gents held a slim 1-0 lead out of the gate, but the Tigers made their first five attempts from the three-point arc and never led by less than double-digits the rest of the game as Centenary (7-4, 0-1 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference) fell to Colorado College (5-6, 1-0 SCAC) 93-76 Saturday afternoon in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Centenary junior Brandon Campbell came off the bench for 17 points on 5-for-10 shooting from behind the arc, but the rest of the team was 2-for-18 (11.1 percent). The Gents finished 27-for-77 (35.1 percent) from the field for the game.
Colorado College built a 22-point lead with 17 minutes remaining in the game, but the Gents answered with 10 unanswered to cut the deficit to 12. Junior Kendall Demouchet made a layup and sophomore Travion Kirkendoll split from the line. However, Demouchet grabbed the offensive rebound off the miss and put it back to cut the deficit to 17. Both teams failed to score for more than a minute before Campbell knocked in a triple off a pass from freshman Treylan Matthews. Matthews finished with six assists and two steals on only a pair of turnovers.
Junior James Sapp, who recorded a game highs in points (21), rebounds (nine) and a season-best in steals (five), capped the run with a lay-up. Chris Martin then split from the line and Reed Nakakihara hit a triple to put the home team back up 54-38 with 12:47 left. The Tigers never led by less than 14 until less than two minutes remaining in the contest, when Centenary cut it the deficit to 10.
The Maroon and White fell behind as much as 19 in the first half, thanks to a 10-for-35 (28.6 percent) shooting mark in the period.
Holding a 4-3 lead, five made three-pointers helped the Tigers go on a 19-4 run in the first half. Eric Houska started the spurt with a layup and John Hatch hit a three. Kirkendoll made a lay-up for the Gents, but Andrew Maddock answered for the home team with his own layup just seconds later. Justin Berardino and Houska hit triples to push the Colorado College advantage to double-digits for good.
Freshman Regis Johnson tried to swing the momentum to Centenary with a steal and fastbreak hoop, but Berardino and Houska went back-to-back from downtown again to put Colorado College ahead 23-7 with 14:15 left in the first half.
Colorado College hit 10-for-19 (52.6 percent) from beyond the arc and 27-for-55 (49.1 percent) from the field for the game. Berardino added a 10-for-12 (83.3 percent) mark from the charity stripe to lead the Tigers with 16. James Lonergan added 12 points, six assists and nine boards. Houska poured in 12 points with five assists.
Both teams complete the season series Sunday afternoon in Colorado at 5 p.m.
