The Centre men's basketball team moved to 4-0 on the season with a 69-59 road win at Hanover on Monday in Hanover, Ind. 

Matt Gump (Bellefontaine, Ohio) led the Colonels with 18 points while Blake Scinta (Louisville, Ky.) added 16 and Andrew Steggeman (New Albany, Ind.) chipped in 13. Kyle James led Hanover with 18 points. For Centre, it was the fourth straight win and third in a row over a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference opponent on the young season.

It was a game in which Centre led most of the way, but Hanover never went away. The Panthers held the lead for just a short stretch in the opening moments when they followed a game-opening Gump 3-pointer with a 9-0 run. 

Faced with an early deficit, Centre responded with a 16-3 run over a six minute stretch to go up 19-12, and the Colonels would lead the rest of the way. Centre went on to build the lead to as many as 11 points after a Steggeman 3-pointer and a pair of Mike Geegan (Bowling Green, Ky.) free throws made the score 30-19 at the 3:57 mark. 

Hanover cut the margin to 32-26 by halftime and would get as close as 45-42 after two V.J. Billups free throws with 12:37 to play, but it was as close as the Panthers got. Gump and Steggeman buried 3-pointers on consecutive possessions, followed by Scinta making a pair of free throws, and the Colonels' lead was back out to 53-42 in just over a minute of play. Centre went on to lead by a comfortable margin the rest of the way.

Centre shot 51 percent (24-of-47) from the field and 50 percent (9-of-18) from 3-point range while holding Hanover to 38 percent (22-of-58) shooting overall and 32 percent (8-of-25) from outside. The Panthers held a slight rebounding advantage at 30-28 and turned the ball over seven times to Centre's eight.

No. 25 Centre improves to 4-0 on the season while Hanover drops to 1-2. The Colonels return to the court with a trip to Thomas More on Saturday.