Irving, Texas – The Centenary men's basketball team returns to Texas this weekend as the Gents face the University of Dallas Privateers in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play beginning on Friday at approximately 8 p.m. at the Maher Center.
The teams will play again on Saturday at approximately 4 p.m. Live stats will be available via www.gocentenary.com and Live video will be available for both games as well at this link: https://www.collegetvticket.com/portal/udallas.
The Gents (3-1) finished off a weekend sweep of the Schreiner Mountaineers last Saturday in Kerrville, Texas with a 70-67 road victory in SCAC action. Centenary followed up Friday night's 79-75 win with an 11th win in their last 12 conference games. The Gents are a stellar 13-1 in their last 14 SCAC games dating back to Jan. 25, 2020. The Privateers (0-4) have gotten off to a rough start but have lost a pair of close games, falling at Austin College 81-80 in their season opener on Jan. 15 and losing at home, 80-77, to St. Thomas last Friday. The Gents swept a pair of games from Dallas last season, winning 77-62 in Irving and then 77-73 at home.
Gents sophomore forward Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) was named the SCAC Men's Basketball Player of the Week on Monday. Thomas was once again outstanding this past weekend for the Maroon and White as he was named Player of the Week for the first time in his career. The SCAC's leader in scoring posted another double-double on Saturday against Schreiner with 17 points and 13 rebounds in 27 minutes. His 13 rebounds are a new career-high, breaking his previous career mark of 12 set the previous night. He made 5 of 16 shots from the floor on Saturday, went 6-6 from the free-throw line, and dished out two assists and had a steal. Thomas scored a career-high 24 points on Friday and now has four career double-doubles and reached double digits for the 12th time in his career.
Thomas has scored in double figures in all four of Centenary's games this season, scoring at least 15 points in every game and grabbing at least 11 rebounds in all but one game. He is now averaging a league-best 18.5 points per game and is second in rebounding, averaging 10.5 per game. He is tied for third in steals, tied for fourth in free-throw percentage, and leads the SCAC in defensive rebounds. Thomas ranks 51st in the nation in points per game (18.5), 14th in rebounds per game (10.5), and is sixth in defensive rebounds per game (8.8). Thomas is also tied for second in the country in double doubles (3) and is tied for 76th in total points (74) and tied for 38th in total rebounds (42).
On Tuesday, Thomas' award-winning week continued as he was named to the D3hoops.com Team of the Week for the week of January 24th, it was announced by D3hoops.com. Thomas is the first SCAC men's student athlete to earn D3hoops.com National TOTW recognition since Austin College's Michael Holland was recognized in week nine of the 2019-20 season. He is the first Centenary athlete to be named to the team since Travion Kirkendoll earned the distinction in week nine of the 2017-18 season. The D3hoops.com Team of the Week recognizes five players -- two backcourt and three frontcourt players -- each week. To see the full D3hoops.com Team of the Week, click here.
Junior guard Kile Mingo (Cypress, Texas) had a solid game in Saturday's win over Schreiner with 13 points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes. He added two assists and a steal and made 5 of 8 shots from the field including a pair of three-pointers. Mingo also scored 13 points on Friday. Sophomore forward Neil Hawkins (Titusville, Fla.) nearly recorded a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds in 28 minutes in the game and sophomore guard Ralph Johnson (New Iberia, La) had 11 points, three rebounds, three assists, and a steal in 30 minutes of 5 of 9 shooting from the floor.
Mingo is averaging 9.3 points per game this season along with 3.5 rebounds per game. Hawkins averages 6.3 PPG and 5.5 RPG (second on team), while Johnson is averaging 9.5 PPG, 2.3 RPG and also averages 2.3 assists per game and 1.8 steals per game. Junior guard AJ Hall (Thibodaux, La.) is averaging 7.5 PPG and nearly matched his career high in points (17 set last season) on Friday night's win at Schreiner with 15 on 6 of 12 shooting from the floor and connected on three of his seven three-point attempts.
Freshman forward Tre Washington (Gibson, La.) added two points off the bench on Friday and also grabbed five rebounds. Washington scored eight points with four rebounds in his Centenary debut on Jan. 15 against Texas Lutheran at home. Sophomore guard Drew Young (Lake Charles, La.) iced Friday's win with a pair of free throws with .5 remaining in the game. Young is averaging 5.5 PPG this season and is shooting just under 79 % from the free-throw line.
Centenary enters play this weekend ranked third in the SCAC in scoring defense, allowing just 65.5 PPG while Dallas ranks third in scoring offense, averaging 76.0 PPG so there lies a key matchup to keep an eye on. The Privateers, though, have struggled defensively and are ninth (last) in the conference in scoring defense, allowing 85.0 PPG. The Gents rank third in offensive rebounds, averaging 13.8 per game, fourth in steals per game, averaging 8.3 per game and have the third-most total steals. Centenary also ranks first in the league in turnover margin (+8.25) and leads the SCAC in free-throw percentage at 75.9 %.
The Gents home to face Colorado College next weekend in SCAC play. The games are scheduled for Friday, Feb. 5 at approximately 8 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 6 at approximately 3 p.m.. Live video and live stats are available at all home games.
A link to the Gents' complete schedule can be found here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mbkb/2020-21/schedule.
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