The Oglethorpe men's basketball team swept the Centre Colonels over the weekend, securing that feat with an 83-60 victory Saturday afternoon at Dorough Field House. It served as the first time the Stormy Petrels swept Centre in a regular-season series since 1994-95, and propelled them to a 2-0 start in their coronavirus-shortened, conference-only 2021 season.
Senior guard Dimetri Chambers led the way for the Petrels, scoring 23 points in the first half and finishing with 27 for the game, shooting 50 percent from the field with 10 made baskets. Sophomore forward Uba Ezigbo doubled up on his breakout start to the season Friday night, scoring 15 points on 7-of-13 from the field while sharing the team lead with six rebounds. Junior guard Carlos Sone added 11 points on 3-of-5 from 3-point range while also garnering six rebounds.
The Petrels again did damage from beyond the arc, converting 10 long-range shots and doing so at a 37 percent clip. They forced 19 Centre turnovers while committing just eight themselves, and outscored the Colonels 19-5 off those turnovers and 8-2 off the fast break.
Down 12 at halftime, Centre appeared to be fighting their way back into the game after cutting the Oglethorpe lead to 51-45 at the 15:40 mark. The Petrels started to pull away from there, though, and the Colonels were unable to find an answer. A 7-0 Oglethorpe run pushed it back out to 58-45 with 13:50 left, culminating in a 3-point play from senior guard Lane Foster. Oglethorpe then finished on a 19-5 run over the final 8:15 of the contest.
The visitors used a 12-6 stretch over the opening 4:20 of the second half to vault themselves right back into the contest, setting up Oglethorpe's big finish.
Oglethorpe turned the game in their favor for good with a 14-2 run late in the first half. Centre fought back from as much as an 8-point deficit to tie the score 31-31 with 5:20 left until halftime. The Petrels finished the period outscoring the Colonels by 12 points over that 5:20 stretch leading into the break.
Centre had a few early leads, gaining as much as a 3-point advantage in the early part of the half. Oglethorpe used an 11-3 run over 2:50 to turn an 11-8 deficit into a 19-14 lead at the 11:50 mark, then pushed their lead to as many as 8 points before Centre fought back to tie the score with 5:20 left until halftime.
"This weekend was a good start to the season, with contributions from a lot of guys," said Oglethorpe head coach Philip Ponder, "We are thankful to be back doing what we love, and we will look to build on these two games moving forward."
The Petrels are next scheduled to head to Alabama to take on Birmingham-Southern next weekend. They'll battle the Panthers Saturday at 5 p.m. Eastern and Sunday at 2 p.m.