The Centre College men's basketball team picked up its third win of the season on the road, winning 78-62 against Franklin College in Franklin, Ind. The win improves Centre's record to 3-2 overall heading into conference play next week.
The visiting Colonels fell behind the host Grizzlies early in the game thanks to two early three point shots made by sophomores J.T. Barton (Greenwood, Ind.) and Bailey Howard (Nashville, Ind.); however, those would be two of only four total three pointers Franklin would score all game.
At the 16:12 mark in the first half Centre would take the lead 12-10 after a three point shot by senior guard Jeff Mullaney (Louisville, Ky.). Two minutes later Franklin would tie the game at 12-12 after a dunk by junior Gunner Erwin (Salem, Ind.). Centre would answer with a lay-up by freshman Chris Taylor (Louisville, Ky.), putting the Colonels up 14-12. Although the game would remain close through the 5:35 mark on the clock, Centre would retain the lead for the remainder of the half and eventually build a 13 point lead going into half-time up 39-26.
The beginning of the second half saw Franklin and Centre trade points for the most part with Franklin never getting closer than seven points and Centre never getting ahead by more than 11 points. All this would change just after the midway point in the second half as Centre would start to build a larger lead with 9:34 remaining in the game.
The double digit lead would begin off a jumper by junior guard Matt Griggs (Cincinnati, Ohio) followed by a jumper by Mullaney to lead the Grizzlies by 14 points. The lead would flip back and forth from 14 to 12 points as Centre and Franklin again traded shots for the next six minutes. At the 3:35 mark the Colonels would build their lead to 16 points thanks to a rebound from senior Greg Ross (Cincinnati, Ohio), which led to a lay-up by Mullaney.
Franklin would get the score back to as close as 13 with 52 seconds left, but it would not be enough as the Colonels would eventually build the lead back to 16 in the final seconds to win by a score of 78-62. Centre would have four players end with double digit points, two seniors (Ross and Mullaney) and two freshman (Karsner and Taylor). Ross would end the game with 17 points, five assists and 10 rebounds while fellow senior Mullaney would add 19 points, two assists, and a steal to the team effort. Freshmen Josh Karsner (Frankfort, Ky.), would score 16 points and Chris Taylor (Louisville, Ky.) would add 11.
The next game for the Colonels will mark the start of conference play as they travel to Jackson, Mississippi on December 2 to take on the Majors of Millsaps. The game is set to start at 8:00pm C.S.T.