Shreveport - The Centenary men's basketball team fell 68-53 on Sunday afternoon to the St. Thomas Celts in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference contest and in the Gents' final regular-season home game at the Gold Dome.
The Gents (11-11, 6-8 SCAC) finish their regular season next weekend against Southwestern and Texas Lutheran on the road. The top six teams in the conference standings after the regular season concludes qualify for the SCAC Tournament (Feb. 25-27 in Sherman, Texas). St. Thomas improved to 18-5 and 12-2 in SCAC play with Sunday's win. The Celts defeated the Gents for the second time in as many tries this season after posting a 70-59 win in Houston last month.
The Celts were on the mark offensively on Sunday, finishing 50 % (25-50) overall from the floor for the game and 11-23 (47.8 %) from beyond the arc. The Gents, on the other hand, were not as sharp as they finished 37 % from the field (20-54) and only made three of 21 attempts from 3-point range for 14.3 %. Centenary finished 10-13 from the free throw line for 76.9 % while St. Thomas was 7-12 for 58.3 %. St. Thomas dominated on the glass, finishing with a 43-21 advantage.
The Gents forced 18 turnovers and gave the ball away only 12 times but could only convert the Celts' 18 miscues into eight points while the visitors scored 17. Centenary finished with a slight edge (28-26) in points in the paint and St. Thomas had 17 second-chance points to eight for Centenary. The Celts' bench contributed 24 points while the Gents' chipped in 17.
Two Gents reached double figures on their Senior Day, as F Jarrell Taylor (Leesville, La.) scored 14 and G Kile Mingo (Cypress, Texas) scored 10. Junior G Ralph Johnson (White Castle, La.) and junior F Joseph Wiggins (Bossier City, La.) each scored eight points, sophomore G Braeden Board (Rayne, La.) added seven and junior F Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) scored four points and grabbed two rebounds with two assists and a pair of steals in 38 minutes.
Taylor added six rebounds and a steal in 27 minutes. He was 5-14 from the floor, 3-4 from the free throw line and made one trey. Mingo grabbed two rebounds and had one assist in 20 minutes. He was 4-7 overall, 1-2 from the free throw line and made one 3-pointer. Mingo now has 147 career treys and needs just four more to move into the program's all-time top 10.
Wiggins started and played 24 minutes as he grabbed two rebounds and had one steal and made 4-7 shots overall. Board grabbed a pair of boards and picked up one steal in 13 minutes off the bench, making 3-6 shots overall and hit one trey. Junior G Jalen Behr (Athens, Ga.) played 11 minutes and scored two points and senior G Tevin Baker (Port Arthur, Texas) did not score but had two rebounds, two steals, and an assist in 20 minutes on his Senior Day. Senior G AJ Hall (Thibodaux, La.) was uncharacteristically held scoreless in 13 minutes as he missed both of his shot attempts. Hall entered the game tied with Taylor for the team lead in scoring averaging 11.6 PPG.
St. Thomas senior G Christian Alaekwe matched his season average by scoring a game-high 15 points on Sunday and was joined in double figures by Juan Hood (14) and Cameron Gims (12). Joshua Sanchez added 10 rebounds and four points and Andrew Adebo posted eight points and eight rebounds as the Celts won for the seventh time in a row.
Centenary held the Celts below their season average of 77.0 PPG but St. Thomas' 3-point shooting and rebounding advantage enabled the Celts to keep pressure on the Gents throughout the game. The Celts jumped out to a 10-2 lead five minutes in and extended that to 19-5 with 12:03 remaining in the half.
Centenary was able to briefly reduce the deficit to single digits, but 61.5 % shooting by the Celts coupled with the Gents making only nine baskets in the entire first half and an 0-12 mark from beyond the arc allowed them to take a comfortable 43-20 lead into the half. The Gents faired a bit better in the second half, shooting 39.3 % and holding the Celts to just nine made shots themselves but the closest Centenary ever got was 61-49 with 4:19 remaining. The Gents did outscore the Celts 33-25 in the second half but the large halftime deficit was too much to overcome. The Gents finished 9-3 at home this season and are an impressive 24-6 over the last 30 games on their home court.
Centenary will face Southwestern (8-15, 5-9 SCAC) on Friday at 5:30 p.m. in Georgetown, Texas and Texas Lutheran (8-13, 6-7 SCAC) on Sunday in its regular-season finale at Noon in Seguin, Texas. Southwestern lost on the road to Trinity 85-65 on Saturday. TLU plays St. Thomas on Tuesday at home in a makeup game from December. The Gents defeated both teams earlier this season at home, recording a pair of blowout wins – 105-69 over Southwestern on Jan. 12 and 95-62 over the Bulldogs on Jan. 24. Centenary is 2-7 on the road this season, winning at Millsaps and MUW in November but are winless so far in conference games.
A link to the Gents' complete 2021-22 schedule can be found here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mbkb/2021-22/schedule
Admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic contests but be advised of current COVID-19 protocols for fans. Updated COVID-19 information is now available via www.GoCentenary.com.
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