Houston – The Centenary men's basketball will face the St. Thomas Celts in a key Southern Collegiate Conference play contest on Saturday set for 4 p.m. at the Jerabeck Center.
The Gents (8-7, 5-3 SCAC) split a pair of conference games last weekend at home, defeating Southwestern by a score of 84-74 on Friday and falling, 79-75, to Texas Lutheran last Sunday. Centenary lost for the first time at home this season after starting 5-0. The Gents are 3-6 on the road this season but an even 2-2 away from home in SCAC games.
St. Thomas is off to its best start in a decade as the Celts currently sit at 14-1 and 7-1 in SCAC play. The Celts, unbeaten at home this season, defeated Southwestern at home last Sunday by a score of 83-69. The Celts top the conference standings, just ahead of second-place Texas Lutheran while Centenary is currently fourth.
Centenary senior guard Cedric Harris (Shreveport) continued his superb season as he scored a game-high and season-best 32 points in 38 minutes on Sunday against the Bulldogs. Harris, who also scored 32 against Texas Lutheran last season, nearly matched his career best mark of 34 (set last season at ETBU) as he shot 10-27 from the field and made six of 15 three-point shots. He made six of seven free throws and also grabbed 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season and second in a row.
Harris had a stellar weekend after he scored 25 points with 17 rebounds in 31 minutes of Centenary's 84-74 win over Southwestern on Friday. Harris was named SCAC Player of the Week on Monday for the second time this season and has also been named the LSWA Player of the Week once as well as eclipsing the 1,000 career-points mark as he makes a case for SCAC Player of the Year. Harris has reached double figures in points in all 15 Centenary games this season and is averaging 19.6 points per game (second best in SCAC) just behind teammate Ty Prince (Thorndale, Texas), the league's top scorer averaging 21.2 points per game.
Harris also ranks third in the conference in rebounding (8.3 rebounds per game) and had made the most three pointers in the conference (60). He has topped the 20-point mark nine times this season. Harris is second in the SCAC in defensive rebounds with 107 and has played the fourth-most minutes this season, averaging 33.6 per game.
Freshman guard Ralph Johnson (New Iberia, La.) scored a season-high 19 points in 27 minutes and had five assists, four rebounds, and steal as he made seven of 12 shots from the floor.
Sophomore forward Neil Hawkins (Titusville, Fla.) scored eight points and had 11 rebounds while freshman forward Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) scored seven points and sophomore guard AJ Hall (Thibodaux, La.) matched him with seven.
St. Thomas boasts the top scoring offense in the league, averaging 90.1 points per game. The Gents score 77.1 per game, third-best in the SCAC. The Celts and Gents are just not offensive clubs, however, as they rank second and fourth respectively in the conference in scoring defense. Both teams rank in the top five in field goal percentage, and rank 1-2 in the SCAC in field goal percentage defense.
The Gents and Celts are also tied for first in the SCAC with Austin College in rebounding offense averaging 40.7 rebounds per game. The teams also rank 1-2 in the league in blocked shots and are both in the top five in steals. Centenary leads the conference in defensive rebounds, averaging 30.1 per game while the Celts are just behind them in second place averaging 29.7 per game.
St. Thomas will be celebrating Homecoming this weekend. Centenary faces Colorado College (Jan. 24) and Johnson and Wales (Jan. 25) in SCAC play on the road following Saturday's game. The Gents' next home game will be on Friday, Jan. 31 versus Schreiner at 5:30 p.m.
The Gents will welcome St. Thomas to town on Friday, Feb. 14 at 5:30 p.m. Five of Centenary's final seven games will be played at home.
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