Shreveport- The Centenary men's basketball team will meet the Austin College 'Roos in a crucial Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference at 5:30 p.m. on Friday evening at the Gold Dome as the top seed in next weekend's conference tournament is on the line.
Live stats and live video are available for the game at www.gocentenary.com. The Gents (14-9, 11-5 SCAC) picked up the biggest win in the division III era last Friday as they defeated the St. Thomas Celts at home by a score of 99-89 in a meeting between the top two teams in the SCAC. The Celts won the regular season title but are not eligible for next weekend's conference tournament as it is their first season in the SCAC.
Austin College, which has an identical overall and conference record as the Gents (14-9/11-5) enter Friday's play winners of two straight after sweeping Southwestern and Texas Lutheran at home last weekend. The winner of Friday's game will earn the No. 1 seed in the 2020 Basketball Championships Feb. 28-March 1 in Kerrville, Texas, hosted by Schreiner University. Centenary has already qualified for next weekend's tournament.
The Gents tied a school single-season record for conference wins in a season last Friday and extended their season-best winning streak to six games. The current winning streak is the longest by a Centenary team since the 2015-16 season. The number of conference wins and winning streak are also both division III program records. Centenary (8-1 at home this season) scored at least 90 points for the fourth time this season and second game in a row with 99 last Friday against the Celts.
Freshman guard Ralph Johnson (New Iberia, La.) continued his stellar play of late as he scored a career-high 28 points in 38 minutes on Friday and grabbed seven rebounds. Johnson, who had a previous career-high of 23 points in 37 minutes against TLU on Feb. 8, made 11 of 19 shots from the field and had two assists and two steals. Johnson made the tying basket on Feb. 7 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. Johnson ranks in the top 25 in the league in scoring and is seventh in field goal percentage (.470) and eighth in assists with 73 total and averages 3.2 per game.
Senior guard Cedric Harris (Shreveport) matched Johnson with 28 points on Friday. Harris is the second -leading scorer in the SCAC averaging 20.1 points per game, and eclipsed the 20-point mark for the 13th time this season. He played 36 minutes against St. Thomas 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. Harris had made the most three-point baskets in the SCAC, with 86 on the season and averages 3.7 makes per game. Harris also averages 8.5 rebounds per game, ranking fifth in the league, is second in defensive rebounds, and is in the top 15 in blocked shots.
Gents sophomore forward Neil Hawkins (Titusville, Fla.) ranks in the top 10 in the conference in offensive rebounds, rebounding, and blocked shots. He averages 8.2 points per game and 6.9 rebounds per game. Fellow sophomore Ty Prince (Thorndale,Texas) averages 19.1 points per game and 7.9 rebounds per game, which would rank fourth and eighth respectively in the league but he has missed seven games and thus not played enough total minutes to qualify.
Harris and Oliver Keeble (Newcastle, Australia) will be honored in a special pregame Senior Day ceremony on Saturday at approximately 3:45 p.m. as the Gents face the University of Dallas at 4 p.m. in their regular-season finale.
Live stats and live video will be available for both game this weekend via www.gocentenary.com and are available for all Centenary athletics home contests. Admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletics events.
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