Men's Basketball Picked Second In SCAC In Preseason Coaches' Poll

Posted: Nov 06, 2019

Lawrenceville, Ga. - The Centenary men's basketball team is picked to finish second in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference for the 2019-20 season, it was announced on Wednesday following exclusive voting by the league's head coaches.

The Gents, led by third-year head coach Chris Dorsey, received 62 points and are predicted to finish only behind Southwestern University, who received 76 points and six first-place votes. The University of Dallas is predicted to finish third, with 57 points and one first-place vote, St. Thomas fourth, and Schreiner University rounds out the top five.

Centenary, which finished 13-13 overall and 10-6 in SCAC play last season, returns a strong core of players highlighted by senior Cedric Harris, a hometown product from C.E. Byrd who was a second team all-conference selection last season, and sophomore Tyrese Prince (Thorndale, Texas), last season's SCAC Newcomer of the Year, along with sophomore Kyle Mingo (Cypress, Texas), who averaged eight points per game last season and shot 36 % from three-point range and 85 % from the free throw line.

The Centenary men's basketball team fell 84-57 on Tuesday evening to the Northwestern State Demons in an exhibition game at Prather Coliseum in Natchotoches. Tuesday's game was the second and final exhibition game of the 2019-20 season following a 74-64 loss to the LSU-S Pilots last Wednesday. Centenary and NSU met for the 142^nd time on Tuesday and despite the loss the Gents still lead the all-time series, 75-67.

"I am very excited about the group of men we have in the program this season," said Dorsey. "Although we are young, we have a ton of maturity and experience returning from last season.

"Our non-conference schedule this year is very competitive. We open up the season against Louisiana College who won 19 games last year and we play five other American Southwest Conference schools who were at the top of their division a year ago," said Dorsey. Our non-conference schedule will fully prepare us for our conference tip-off on Dec. 20 against Austin College. I am looking forward to a fun season and we are all excited to get going on November 12."

Dorsey is 28-24 and 18-12 in SCAC play in his first two seasons. The Gents went 15-11 in his first season in 2017-18 and finished second in the SCAC, advancing to the conference tournament championship game and lost by just four points to Schreiner. Centenary went 13-13 last season highlighted by a 10-6 mark in conference play. The Gents won eight of their final 11 regular season games last year to qualify for the conference tournament for the third-straight time under Dorsey.

Centenary will play 11 home games with nine of those being Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference contests. The Gents will hit the road 14 times for nine SCAC games and five non-conference games. The Maroon and White finish off the month of November with road games at Howard Payne and Hardin-Simmons on consecutive days (Nov. 29-30) and then stay on the road to open the month of December as the Gents face LeTourneau on Dec. 3 and East Texas Baptist University on Dec. 9.

The Gents open SCAC play on the road at Austin College on Friday, Dec. 20 and welcome Colorado College to town on Sunday, Dec. 29 for their first conference home game. Centenary finishes the regular season with three straight home games against St. Thomas (Feb. 14), Austin College (Feb. 21), and the University of Dallas (Feb. 22). The SCAC tournament is set for Feb. 28-March 1 in Kerrville, Texas hosted by Schreiner University.

A link to the complete schedule is available here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mbkb/2019-20/schedule.

Live stats and live video are available for all home games and admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic events. #GoCentenary #CTheOpportunity

2019-20 SCAC Men's Basketball Preseason Coaches' Poll (first-place votes in parentheses, followed by total points)