Denver, Colo. – The Centenary men's basketball team defeated the Johnson and Wales Wildcats, 85-79, on Saturday in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference game at the Wildcat Center.
The Gents (9-9, 6-5 SCAC) earned a split of their weekend road trip after falling 72-67 at Colorado College on Friday in Colorado Springs. Johnson and Wales dropped to 2-16 and 1-10 in SCAC play with Saturday's loss. The Gents swept the season series against the Wildcats after winning 92-54 on Dec. 30 at home. The Gents (8-9, 5-5 SCAC) split the season series with the Tigers (5-11, 3-7 SCAC) after defeating them 83-75 in overtime back on Dec. 29 at home.
Centenary is fourth in the SCAC standings just a half game behind Austin College (6-4) for third place. The Gents defeated Austin on the road last month and will host the 'Roos on Feb. 21.
Senior guard Cedric Harris (Shreveport) led the way for the Gents with 29 points in 33 minutes. Harris, who has scored in double figures in all 18 Centenary games this season, made 8 of his 16 shots from the field and connected on six of his 11 three-point attempts. He added six rebounds, three steals, one assist and one block. Harris scored 13 in Friday's loss at Colorado College and entered the weekend as the league's third-leading scorer averaging 19.8 points per game.
Gents freshman guard Ralph Johnson (New Iberia, La.) scored 19 points in 37 minutes as he was 9-13 from the floor and had seven assists. Johnson scored 19 points for the second time in the last three games after posting 19 against Texas Lutheran at home on Jan. 12. He also scored 18 at St. Thomas on Jan. 18 and now has seven double-figure scoring games this season.
Sophomore guard AJ Hall (Thibodaux, La.) scored 11 points off the bench in 26 minutes. He made three of his five shots, grabbed four rebounds, and was a perfect 4-4 from the free-throw line. Freshman forward Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) scored nine along with nine rebounds, four steals, and two blocks. Sophomore forward Neil Hawkins (Titusville, Fla.) scored eight points along with five rebounds and sophomore guard Kile Mingo (Cypress, Texas) scored seven points a day after scoring a career-high 21 points. He added five rebounds and had two blocks on Saturday.
Centenary shot a scorching 50.9 % from the floor (a season-best mark), making 29 of 57 shots and made nine of 20 three-point attempts. The Maroon and White also made 18 of 23 free throw attempts and only turned the ball over 11 times. The Gents also picked up eight assists, eight steals, and blocked six shots. The Gents shot 50 % or better for the second time this season after shooting an even 50 % in the previous meeting with the Wildcats.
Andray Thomas Jr. matched Harris and led the Wildcats with 29 points as he played all 40 minutes. Kaleb Atherely (18), Jaerron Hunter (15), and Charles Young (10) all scored in double figures as well. Johnson and Wales shot 40.3 % from the floor for the game but struggled from long range, missing 15 of 20 shots from beyond the arc. The Wildcats outrebounded the Gents, 46-30, led by a whopping 27 from Atherely.
The Gents return home next weekend for a pair of SCAC games at the Gold Dome, facing Schreiner on Friday, Jan. 31 at 5:30 p.m. and Trinity on Sunday, Feb. 2 at 1 p.m. Five of Centenary's final seven games will be played at home. The Gents are 5-1 at home this season.
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