Shreveport- The Centenary men's basketball team picked up its biggest win in the division III era on Friday as the Gents defeated the St. Thomas Celts by a score of 99-89 in a meeting between the top two teams in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference at the Gold Dome.
The Gents (14-9, 11-5 SCAC) tied a school single-season record for conference wins in a season and extended their season-best winning streak to six games and marked the first time Centenary has won six in a row since the 2015-16 season. The number of conference wins and winning streak are both division III program records. The Celts (21-2, 14-2 SCAC) fell for just the second time this season as the conference regular season champs had their eight-game winning streak snapped.
Centenary improved to 8-1 at home this season and scored at least 90 points for the fourth time this season and second game in a row. The Gents defeated Texas Lutheran and Southwestern last weekend on the road, winning 91-77 over TLU and earning a thrilling 82-79 comeback win on Friday at Southwestern after trailing by four points with 28 seconds left. The Gents split the season series with the Celts and rebounded nicely on Friday after falling by a score of 94-68 on Jan. 18 in Houston.
Freshman guard Ralph Johnson (New Iberia, La.) continued his stellar play as he scored a career-high 28 points in 38 minutes and grabbed seven rebounds. Johnson, who had a previous career-high of 23 points in 37 minutes against TLU last Saturday, made 11 of 19 shots from the field and had two assists and two steals. Johnson made the tying basket last Friday at Southwestern and then made a pair of clutch free throws to seal the win. Johnson notched his 11th double-figure scoring game of the season and has done so seven times in the last nine games.
Senior guard Cedric Harris (Shreveport) matched Johnson with 28 points on Friday. Harris, who entered the game as the third-leading scorer in the SCAC averaging 19.7 points per game, eclipsed the 20-point mark in a game for the 13th time this season. He played 36 minutes on Friday and made eight of 20 shots from the floor, four of eight three-pointers, and went 8-9 from the free-throw line. He had 13 rebounds, 10 on the defensive end, as he recorded his seventh double-double of the season.
Centenary, which led 47-39 at the half, shot 47.8 % from the floor for the game, making 33 of 69 shots. The Gents made 11 of 24 three-point attempts and forced 20 St. Thomas turnovers. Centenary shot 48. 6 % in the first half and 47.1 % after halftime. St. Thomas shot 47. % for the game. Three Celts were in double figures led by Cameron Gibs' 25. Nathan Thormaehlen posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Gents sophomore Kile Mingo (Cypress, Texas) scored 14 points off the bench in 28 minutes. He was 4-5 from three-point range and made both of his free-throw attempts. Sophomore Tykeem Singleton (Fort Worth, Texas) and freshman forward Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) each scored seven points.
The Gents entered Friday's action a half-game ahead of both Austin College and Texas Lutheran in the conference standings. Dallas and Trinity were the next two teams in the standings. 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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