Men’s basketball falls to #13 Centre College

ATLANTA – The Huntingdon men's basketball team battled nationally ranked Centre College but came up short 71-55 on Friday in the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Holiday Classic at Oglethorpe.

Centre, the No. 13 team in the D3hoops.com national poll, led for much of the first half and built as much as a 12-point lead. But the Hawks (1-6) only trailed by six, 40-34, at the half.

A strong start in the second half helped Centre (7-0) put the game away. Centre used a 12-0 run in the first six minutes of the second half to take control.

"Centre is worthy of being the No. 13 team in the country. They were big and their size affected our shots," Huntingdon head coach Mike Pugh said. "We were missing a couple of guys tonight, with Charlie Johnson and Logan Strawn out, but I am proud of the guys. We played very hard and turned in one of our best efforts of the season."

Dantavius Washington finished with 11 points and five rebounds for Huntingdon and Andre Ashley added 10 points and seven rebounds. Alex Layson had a team-high nine rebounds and eight points.

The Hawks return to action against tournament host Oglethorpe (9-2) on Saturday at 4 p.m.