Donovan Whiteside buried a 3-pointer with 23 seconds left to help the Centre men's basketball team survive a scare from Rhodes and advance to the Southern Athletic Association championship game with a 64-61 victory Saturday in Danville, Ky.

The Colonels had beaten the Lynx by margins of 32 and 18 points in two previous meetings and looked to be on the way to another victory when they opened the game on a 15-5 run. Late in the half, Centre put together another 8-0 surge to go up by as many as 15 points before taking a 31-20 lead to the break.

However, things wouldn't come so easily for the Colonels as Rhodes knocked down a pair of 3-pointers coming out of halftime and climbed back into the game by shooting 60 percent from outside in the second half. The Lynx gradually chipped away at the Colonels' lead, cutting it to 37-35 at the 14:44 mark after a 7-0 run, and eventually taking their first lead when a Patrick McGrail 3-pointer put them up 53-52 with four minutes left.

The lead changed hands six more times as the teams traded baskets down the stretch with Centre going ahead 61-59 after a Blake Scinta (Louisville, Ky.) free throw with a minute left. Rhodes' Johnny Dunavant tied the score at 61 with 45 seconds left, only to see Whiteside (Knoxville, Tenn.) bury the game winner from the left wing on the ensuing possession.

A Ryan Van Hoeck jump shot missed with four seconds remaining, and though Centre's Ryan Murray missed a pair of free throws after the rebound, the Colonels were able to keep Rhodes from getting a final shot off.

Scinta went on to lead all players with 15 points while Josh Karsner (Frankfort, Ky.) added 12 points and Whiteside 10. Geoff Livsey led Rhodes with 14.

For the game, Rhodes shot 48 percent (24-of-50) overall and 39 percent (7-of-18) from outside while Centre was 45 percent (19-of-42) from the field and 27 percent (6-of-22) from 3-point range. Rhodes held a 28-24 rebounding advantage.

The Colonels improve to 22-4 on the season while Rhodes wraps up the year at 15-12. Centre advances to Sunday's SAA championship where it will face Oglethorpe at 1 p.m.