SHREVEPORT, La. - The Gents paired a 15-point deficit to three in a five-minute span in the second half, but Centenary (16-11) climbed no closer in an 80-70 loss to Texas Lutheran (20-6) in the semifinals of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Saturday, February 28.
The Maroon and White trailed 47-32 with 15 minutes left in the game, but an 11-1 run in a two-minute span cut the deficit to five. Junior James Sapp hit a pair of free throws and junior Kendall Demouchet hit a jumper. Sophomore Travion Kirkendoll scored a fastbreak layup off a steal to cut the deficit to nine. Texas Lutheran split from the line, but Sapp hit a jumper and senior Just Cueto hit a fastbreak three.
Down by seven a few seconds later, Cueto hit a three and Sapp drained a jumper around the Bulldogs splitting from the line, but Texas Lutheran used an 11-2 run to push the deficit back to double-digits.
Kirkendoll finished with a near triple-double with 14 points, nine boards and a career-best eight assists. Sapp added 17 points and seven boards, while Demouchet added 10 points, six boards and three blocks.
The Gents lone lead came off a game-opening three from freshman Regis Johnson. Tied at 10, Texas Lutheran used an 8-0 run to take the lead for good. Jordan Kouremetis hit a triple and Matthew Gillette hit a three. Paris Marquez capped the run with a triple. The Bulldogs never led by less than six the rest of the half and led 38-26 at break.
Leading 65-58 with 6:05 left, Texas Lutheran hit 3-of-4 from the line and Zach Behr, who had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, hit a triple. The top seed never led by less than eight the rest of the way.
Sterling Holmes scored 17 points on a 5-for7 mark from the field. Paris Marquez added 16 thanks to a 7-for-10 mark from the field.
Texas Lutheran took advantage of making more free throws (22) than Centenary attempted (17).
James Sapp, who was named to the All-Conference First Team, finished 15.3 points, 11.3 rebounds and 12 double-doubles to lead the conference in each category. Against the Bulldogs, he surpassed former Gent Bryan Stewart for 10th in the career rebounding annals with 690. Through three seasons, Sapp is just nine points and 10 rebounds short of becoming just the ninth Gent with 1000 points and 700 career rebounds.
If he scores nine points and grabs 310 boards in his senior campaign, he will become just the third Centenary men's basketball player with 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds.
Travion Kirkendoll also captured first team honors, leading the conference with 19.6 points and 2.0 steals per game. He also finished fourth in the SCAC (and first among guards) with 7.6 rebounds and six double-doubles.
Freshman Treylan Matthews, who led all newcomers in the SCAC with 10.9 points, was named Honorable Mention All-Conference. He also led all freshmen with 3.9 assists per game and was eighth in the SCAC in assist-to-turnover ratio among players averaging more than three dimes per game.
