The # 16 Centre College men's basketball team won the 2009 SCAC Championship by defeating Southwestern, 72-67, on Sunday, March 1, in Conway, Ark. The Colonels have now won the SCAC Tournament in two of the last three years.
The Colonels raced out of the gate and quickly built a commanding first half lead. At half Centre led Southwestern by 15, 42-27. In the first half the Colonels dominated in the paint, scoring 12 points, and in points off of Southwestern turnovers, scoring 10 points.
Southwestern stormed back in the second half to cut the Centre lead to three, 67-64, with two minutes to go in the game. Centre preserved the final Southwestern attack in route to the Championship victory thanks to clutch play.
Leading the Colonels to the 2009 SCAC Championship was senior guard Kris Bentley (5'11''-G) (Pikeville, Ky.). Bentley scored a career high 31 points thanks to shooting 8 for 14 from three-point land and going 7 for 7 from the free throw line. Senior forward T.C. Thomason (6'3''-G) (Russellville, Ky.) scored 16 points and junior forward Danny Noll (6'6''-F) (Ft. Mitchell, Ky.) scored 11 points. Senior point guard Ryan Crowdis (6'1''-G) had 5 points, 5 rebounds and a game-high 9 assists. Sophomore center Alex Lloyd (6'8''-C) (Lexington, Ky.) pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds while also recording 2 blocks and 2 steals.
With the win Centre improves to 23-4 overall along with having won eight straight games. The last time Centre won the SCAC Tournament Championship was during the 2006-07 season. In route to the eighteenth conference title in school history the Colonels defeated first round opponent Austin College, 66-41, and then a day later in the second round defeated Hendrix College, 78-77.
Courtesy of centre

Tournament Final: Centre - Southwestern 72-67
Tournament Semifinals:
Centre - Hendrix 78-77
Southwestern - Trinity 68-63

SCAC All-Tournament MVP: Danny Noll of Centre

SCAC All-Tournament Team 2008-09
King	McDonald	Cox	Noll	Bentley