Pineville, La. – The Centenary men's basketball team opened its 2019-20 season with a 71-66 non-conference loss to the Louisiana College Wildcats on Tuesday at H.O. West Fieldhouse.
The Gents (0-1) had three players in double figures, led by 23 from sophomore forward Ty Prince (Thorndale, Texas). Sophomore guard Kyle Mingo (Cypress, Texas) added 12 points and senior guard Cedric Harris (Shreveport) scored 10. Prince had a team-best six rebounds.
Kae'ron Baker scored 23 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Wildcats and Denzel Austin had 16 points and Jaylen Rhone and KD Wallace each had 10 points.
The Gents prepared for the season with a pair of road exhibition games against LSU-S and Northwestern State prior to Tuesday's opener. Centenary fell 84-57 to the Demons in Natchitoches and 74-64 to LSU-S back on Oct. 30. The Maroon and White will next be in action next Tuesday, Nov. 19 for its home opener at 7:30 p.m. against Millsaps in the Gold Dome.
Centenary was picked to finish second in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference this season. 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.
The Gents, who finished 13-13 overall and 10-6 in SCAC play last season, return a strong core of players highlighted by Harris, a hometown product from C.E. Byrd who was a second team all-conference selection last season, and Prince, last season's SCAC Newcomer of the Year, along with Mingo, who averaged eight points per game last season and shot 36 % from three-point range and 85 % from the free throw line. The trio wasted no time in contributing as expected on Tuesday.
Sophomore forward Neil Hawkins (Titusville, Fla.), freshman Ralph Johnson (New Iberia), and freshman Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) combined for 19 points and nine rebounds.
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
