2006 SCAC MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
SEMIFINAL ROUND

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - If Centre College was fatigued from its double-overtime contest the night before, it sure didn't show.

Sophomore guard Matt Nestheide and junior guard Matt Jacobson combined to go 9 of 14 from three-point range and Centre shot 52.7% from the field in Saturday's 77-55 semifinal win over Southwestern University. The Colonels advance to tomorrow's championship game where they will play the winner of DePauw University and Rhodes College. Tip time for Sunday's men's title game is Noon CT.

Nestheide finished with 23 points on 6 of 12 shooting from the field and a perfect 7 of 7 from the charity stripe and Jacobson had 17 points and was 6 of 9 from the field.

Senior center Reggie Magnusson chipped in with 18 points on 9 of 11 shooting to go along with six rebounds. Despite scoring just four points, senior forward Coy Zerhusen had 12 rebounds and in the process, became the SCAC's all-time leading rebounder with 850 boards - surpassing Russ Churchwell of Oglethorpe (2001-05) who finished his career with 849 rebounds.

Centre (19-7) shot a red-hot 65.2% (15-23) in the second half to pull away after heading into the locker room with a 37-28 lead. The Colonels out-rebounded the Pirates 35-25 and held Southwestern to just 36.2% shooting - including 30.4% in the decisive second half.

Senior guard Jamonn Little ended his career at Southwestern with 29 points on 10 of 15 shooting from the field, which included 4 of 5 from distance. Senior Robert Cates was the only other Pirate in double-figures and finished with 17 points. No other Southwestern player had more than four points as the duo of Little and Cates combined for 46 of the team's 55 points.

Southwestern ends it's season with a 19-8 record.

For Centre, it will be the program's second trip to the SCAC title game. In the inaugural SCAC basketball tournament in 2003, the Colonels made it to the championship game before losing to Trinity University, 58-54.