By Matthew D. Stokes, BerryVikings.com Lead Writer

ROME, Ga. – Berry men's basketball team scored the first four points of the game but trailed the rest of the afternoon as it fell, 71-60, against Southern Athletic Association opponent Centre on Sunday at the Cage Center.  

Byron Ellis scored 21 points for Centre while Blake Scinta added a game-high 22, including 16 in the second half.

"We lost [Ellis] early in the first half," said Interim Head Coach Derek Taylor, "and he had four three-pointers, and that hurt us. Second half [Scinta] got rolling a little bit, and we struggled to defend him. They're a good team. In the end I think that they knocked down a few more shots and got a few stops than we did, and ultimately that was the difference."

Berry dropped to 4-17 overall and 1-9 in SAA games. Centre upped its record to 15-4 and 8-2.

In the first half, Centre's Ellis scored 14 points and had more three-pointers himself (four) than Berry's entire team (zero). At the buzzer, the two teams walked to their respective locker rooms with Centre ahead, 29-21.

Berry cut Centre's lead to as little as eight points in the second half but came no closer.

"They had a huge size advantage in the post, and I think that's what hurt us the most," said Mac Whalen. "They did have an advantage, but we only got outrebounded by one so we were able to keep their post guys at bay rebounding-wise."

Whalen paced Berry with 21 points and tied Lake Graham for the team lead with seven rebounds. Jonathan Abrams added 15 points.

Berry will return to action on Friday night against Rhodes. Tipoff is scheduled for 9 p.m. at Mallory Gymnasium in Memphis, Tenn.

"I just told them in the locker room that we're going out on the road on Thursday, and we haven't won a road game in about two years, and we're going to approach this like a business trip," Taylor said. "It's not going to be a vacation; we're going to go out there on Thursday, and I told them they've got two business meetings [next weekend]. We're going to go out, give it everything we've got and leave it all out on the court."