"That's who we are," Mason said. "We work so hard to get a gap for a three-point shot. That's what our offense revolves around. We were getting good looks, but sometimes the shot just doesn't fall for you. How many times have you seen (junior guard) Matt (Nestheide) go 0 for 6 from 3-point range and we still win the game?"
Jacobson scored 10 of Centre's first 12 points as the Colonels had a 12-4 advantage to begin the game. However, Messiah started working the ball inside to senior Jared Yoder for the remainder of the half. He scored six straight points, while sophomore guard Drew Sneeringer drained a pair of treys to cut the Colonels lead to 26-24 with 4:27 to play in the half. Messiah, however, would score only two points the rest of the half and Danny Noll's 3-pointer with a minute to play gave Centre a 31-26 advantage at the half.
Jacobson scored five points to begin the second half as Centre led 39-35, but Messiah rallied to take its first lead of the night at 40-39 when Yoder stepped outside to nail a trey and then worked inside for an old-fashioned 3-point play.
"Our guys said (Yoder) was the best player they have faced in two or three years," Mason added. "We couldn't stop him. We didn't have an answer."
John Patterson scored only one point in the game, but proved to be Yoder's main threat on the inside. He blocked five shots during the game and altered several shots around the basket during the second half.
Messiah took its largest lead of the night at 47-43 following a Ryan Witmer 3-pointer, but Centre received arguably its biggest basket on its next trip down the floor when Jacobson nailed a trey of his own.
Centre came out of a timeout just before the basket and missed four straight shots from beyond the arc until Jacobson's basket.
"(Jacobson) baled us out a couple times," Mason said. "That three-point shot was huge and then we started to get a few defensive stops to get the lead back."
The Colonels' defense forced three straight turnovers and their offense went on a 10-2 scoring run over the next eight minutes to grab a 56-51 advantage with 22 seconds to play. Sophomore T.C. Thomason hit a lay-up and the Colonels cashed all eight of their free throw attempts in the final four minutes to hold onto the hard-fought win. Defensively, they had committed just four fouls and decided to give one up with 10 seconds to play, but decided against fouling the rest of the way.
"We still had fouls to give at the end but we didn't want to get too cute," the Centre coach said. "You saw what happened late in the game when (Matt Henninger) threw up a prayer and it went in. This was a good win for us. I have a lot of respect for Messiah. I'll be surprised if they don't win 20 games again this year."
Centre Women
Edison State 81, Centre 67 - At Springfield, Ohio, Edison State opened up the second half on a 17-4 run to erase a two-point halftime deficit and beat the Centre College women in the consolation game of the Charles B. Zimmerman Memorial Classic at Wittenberg University.
Centre (3-7) led 34-32 at the half and had a 36-32 lead on Lauern Clontz's layup before Edison (6-5) took over. Monica Vonderbrink led Centre with 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting, Chrystal Claunch added 12 points and four assists and Chelsea Goodman had eight points and six assists.
The Colonels finished 27-for-65 shooting (41.5 percent), while Edison finished 27-for-53 (51 percent). Edison (18-for-20) also had a big advantage over Centre (2-for-4) at the free throw line.
Friday's Game
Baldwin-Wallace 82, Centre 41 - Baldwin-Wallace (9-1), ranked No. 8 in the d3hoops.com national poll, held Centre (3-6) to 16 points in the first half after the Colonels shot just 16 percent.
Reserve Andrea Loveless had eight points in 16 minutes for Centre.
