The Oglethorpe men's basketball team suffered a 75-54 loss Friday night in a tough matchup with the homestanding Centre Colonels at Alumni Gymnasium in Danville, Kentucky. The loss dropped the Stormy Petrels to 13-10 overall and 7-5 in league play. With the result they maintained third place in the league headed into the final two games of the season.

In a reverse of the game the two teams played Jan. 11 at Dorough Field House, the Petrels fell behind big in the first half, making a second half in which they played the Colonels relatively even a moot point. The Colonels jumped out to a 14-5 lead over the opening five minutes of the game. Oglethorpe responded with five consecutive points to make it 14-10 and, despite five straight points by Centre, kept the home side in range well into the half. The Colonels led 27-18 with 6:15 to play in the period, but they embarked on a 13-0 run that stretched until the one-minute mark and extended their lead to 22 points, 40-18.

That turned out to be Centre's largest lead of the game, but the Petrels were unable to put a serious dent in the deficit during the second half. They got as close as 14 points early in the period after going on a 7-0 run over a 2:50 stretch. After a made 3-pointer from sophomore forward Will Koch, the score sat at 43-29 with 15:55 to go. However, Centre used consecutive 3-pointers to move their lead back to 19 and Oglethorpe didn't get closer than 15 points after that.

The Petrels shot just 36.2 percent from the field and 15 percent from beyond the 3-point line while giving up baskets at a 49.1-percent rate from the field overall and a 44.4-percent clip from long distance. Oglethorpe shot just 56.3 percent from the free-throw line and collected just three assists on 21 made baskets. They outscored the Colonels 32-28 in the paint, but it wasn't enough to offset the shooting difficulties.

Senior center Tom Inungu led the Petrels with 18 points and nine rebounds. He made 8 of 12 field-goal attempts and also recorded three steals. 

The Petrels will be back in action Sunday afternoon when they travel to Tennessee to face Sewanee at 4 p.m. EST. After that, they'll return home for their Senior Night matchup against Berry Feb. 16 at 8 p.m.