Shreveport- The Centenary men's basketball team extended their season-best winning streak to eight as the Gents rallied to defeat the University of Dallas Crusaders, 77-73, on Senior Night in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference contest at the Gold Dome.
The Gents (16-9, 13-5) finished with their best home record (10-1) in the division III era and set a record for longest winning streak in a season with their eighth win in a row. Centenary's 84-71 win on Friday over Austin College secured the No. 1 seed in next weekend's 2020 men's Basketball Championship in Kerrville, Texas. hosted by Schreiner University and also set a division III program record for conference wins in a single season. The Gents will play at Noon on Saturday, Feb. 29 against the winner of Friday's first quarterfinal game between the No. 4 and 5 seeds.
Centenary, which honored its two seniors, Cedric Harris (Shreveport) and Oliver Keeble (Newcastle, Australia) before the game, trailed by a point at halftime (36-35) but outscored the Crusaders by five (42-37) after halftime to secure the win. Harris led the Gents with 19 points in 32 minutes and grabbed seven rebounds. He shot 7-14 from the floor and 3-8 from three-point range. Harris scored 17 on Friday and had 12 rebounds. He entered the weekend as the second -leading scorer in the SCAC averaging 20.1 points per game.
Sophomore forward Neil Hawkins (Titusville, Fla.) scored 16 points on 6-7 shooting and had six rebounds and two assists. Freshman forward Seth Thomas (Kilgore,Texas) added 14 points and seven rebounds while freshman guard Ralph Johnson (New Iberia, La.) chipped in 11 points in 30 minutes. Centenary shot 45 % from the floor for the game while Dallas shot 48 %. Centenary only turned the ball over eight times while forcing 19 Crusaders miscues. Jai Love led Dallas with 21 points, Isaiah Hayes and Letrell Toussaint combined for 23 and 22 rebounds, both posting double-doubles, and John Russell had eight points and five rebounds.
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