Shreveport- The top two teams in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference men's basketball standings will meet on Friday evening as the Centenary men's basketball team welcomes the St. Thomas Celts to the Gold Dome at 5:30 p.m.
Live stats and live video via College TV Ticket will be available via www.gocentenary.com.
The Gents (13-9, 10-5 SCAC) extended their winning streak to a season-tying best five in a row and completed a weekend conference sweep of SCAC opponents with a convincing 91-77 road win on Saturday over Texas Lutheran. Centenary earned a thrilling 82-79 comeback win on Friday at Southwestern after trailing by four points with 28 seconds left.
Centenary also won five in a row from Dec. 14-30. The Gents topped the 90-point mark for the third time this season and first since scoring 92 in a home win over Johnson and Wales on Dec. 30. The Celts (21-1, 14-1 SCAC) clinched the conference regular-season title with a home win over Southwestern last Saturday and have won eight in a row. The Gents fell to St. Thomas in Houston on Jan. 18, by a score of 94-68.
Freshman guard Ralph Johnson (New Iberia, La.) had a big weekend for the Gents as he scored a career-high 23 points in 37 minutes against TLU on Saturday as he made eight of his 18 shot attempts and seven of nine free throws. Johnson made the tying basket on Friday at Southwestern and then made a pair of clutch free throws to seal the win after the Gents had trailed by four points with just 28 seconds remaining. He added eight assists, five rebounds, and a steal on Saturday. Johnson notched his 10th double-figure scoring game of the season and has done so six times in the last eight games.
Senior guard Cedric Harris (Shreveport) scored 18 points in 35 minutes on Saturday as he has reached double figures in all 22 of Centenary's games this season. He had five rebounds and three steals on Saturday after scoring game-high 22 points in 37 minutes on Friday. Harris is the third-leading scorer in the SCAC averaging 19.7 points per game and seventh in the conference in rebounding, averaging 8.3 per game. Harris has made the most three-pointers in the SCAC this season with 82 (3.7 per game). Harris, who has played the third-most minutes (34.3 per game) in the SCAC also ranks second in the league in defensive rebounds with 151 (6.9 per game).
Centenary and St. Thomas rank in the top five in the SCAC in 11 different team statistical categories and currently have the two longest winning streaks in the conference. The Gents are a half-game ahead of both Austin College and Texas Lutheran (both 9-5) in the conference standings. Dallas and Trinity are the next two teams in the standings as each are 7-7 in SCAC play. The 2020 SCAC Basketball Championships will be held Feb. 28-March 1 in Kerrville, Texas hosted by Schreiner University.
The Gents will play their final two regular-season games at home next weekend as they meet Austin College on Friday, Feb. 21- 5:30 p.m. and then play host to Dallas on Senior Day, Saturday, Feb. 22 at 4 p.m.
Live stats and live video are available for all home games and admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletics events.
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