SHREVEPORT, La. – The Gents made a season low nine miscues and freshman Ty Prince added a season high five three-pointers as Centenary (2-6) upended East Texas Baptist (5-3) 75-69 Saturday night, December 15, in the third game of the 2018 Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission Holiday Classic at the Gold Dome.
Prince scored a pair of critical triples at the end of each half. In the first with the Tigers up 35-34, Prince hit his first three of the ballgame with 2:18 left until the break. After a defensive stand, freshman Kile Mingo fed Prince for another triple. East Texas Baptist added a layup with less than a minute left, but the home team led 40-37 at the break.
With less than two minutes remaining and the Gents up 67-66, East Texas Baptist made a turnover and Centenary decided to run clock. With the shot clock about to go off, senior Treylan Matthews found Prince for the three and the four-point lead. The Tigers answered with their own three with just less than a minute remaining, but Centenary again ran clock and Prince dialed it up from distance again to put Centenary up 73-69 with 25 seconds left. The Tigers missed a layup before the ball went out of bounds to Centenary. Prince was fouled on the inbounds and made both from the line for the final six-point margin.
Prince finished 5-for-10 from behind the arc and 3-for-4 from two for 24 points. Matthews narrowly missed a double-double with 10 points and nine boards.
Centenary made its first three shots of the game to race out to a 6-0 lead. Matthews made a layup and Prince made a jumper. Junior Jericho Gray added a layup.
While Centenary led for nearly 32 minutes of the game, the score remained close as it featured 10 ties and 14 lead changes. The Gents used a season high 86.4 percent shooting percentage from the line (19-for-22) in the win.
With the Gents up 17-11 in the first, Robby Dooley for the Tigers made a pair of old-fashioned threes for the first tie of the game. Senior Kaharri Carter answered with a tip-in, but Jarrell Taylor made a fastbreak three to give the Tigers its first lead of the game. Neither team led by more than three the rest of the half until Prince hit back-to-back threes for Centenary.
East Texas Baptist took its lone lead of the second half with 2:13 remaining in the contest. Centenary led by three after a Prince triple, but a layup and a pair of free throws from Dooley gave the Tigers a small lead. However, Carter answered back with a pair from the charity stripe with just less than two minutes remaining in the game to give Centenary the lead for good.
Dooley led all scorers in the game with 29 points.
This is the Gents first win against the Tigers since the 2011-2012 season.
Centenary opens up Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play Tuesday, December 18, when it hosts Dallas. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.