Seguin, Texas - The Centenary men's basketball team was stunned in the final seconds on Saturday by Texas Lutheran University, 68-67, as the Bulldogs snapped the Gents' eight-game winning streak in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference contest at Memorial Gymnasium.
The Gents (9-3, 3-1 SCAC) lost for the first time in over a month, dropping a game for the first time since a 63-51 home defeat to Louisiana Christian University on Nov. 16. The Bulldogs improved to 7-4 overall and 3-1 in SCAC play with Saturday's comeback win. Centenary, which extended its season-best winning streak to eight on Friday night with a gritty 58-49 win at Southwestern, was aiming for its longest unbeaten streak since winning 10 in a row during its 2019-20 conference championship season.
The loss was a bitter one for the Gents after holding a commanding 25-point lead with 12:39 remaining and led 37-23 at halftime. Mason Wallace's basket with four seconds left put the Bulldogs up 68-67, and a last-second shot from junior G Braeden Board (Rayne, La.) came up short as the buzzer sounded and the Bulldogs celebrated as the Gents stood in disbelief.
The Gents shot 34.5 % (10-29) from the floor in the first half and finished 50 % (7-14) from 3-point range and 10-12 from the free throw line to take a 14-point halftime lead. Centenary forced 12 Bulldogs' turnovers in the first half and held TLU to just one make from beyond the arc in 11 tries for a woeful 9.1 %. The Bulldogs finished 8-21 overall from the floor for 38.1 % and 6-9 for 66.7 % from the free throw line in the first half.
TLU was clicking on offense in the second half, finishing 16-30 overall from the floor for 53.3 %, 7-14 from beyond the arc, and 6-12 from the FT line. Centenary struggled on offense after the half, making only 8-25 attempts for 32 % and hit just two 3-pointers in eight attempts for 25 %. The Gents, though, were strong from the FT line in the half as they made 12-15 attempts and finished 22-27 for the game for an impressive 81.5 %.
Centenary shot 33.3 % overall for the game (18-54) and were a solid 9-22 from beyond the arc for 40.9 %. TLU finished at 47.1 % from the floor for the game (24-51) but just 8-25 from beyond the arc for 25 % and struggled from the FT line, going 12-21 for 57.1 %. Each team grabbed 35 rebounds and the Gents turned the ball over 20 times while the Bulldogs gave it away 18 times. Centenary scored 22 points off of TLU's 18 miscues and the Bulldogs finished with 17.
The Bulldogs finished with a 32-18 edge in points in the paint and had a slight advantage (15-10) in bench points. Centenary had 18 second-chance points to TLU's 10 and the Bulldogs had 11 fast break points to 10 for the Gents. Centenary, which entered the weekend leading the conference in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense, allowed an opponent to score 65 or more points for only the fifth time this season. The Gents have yielded just 55.5 PPG over the last four games.
Senior F Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) and junior G Jerrick Baines (Alexandria, La.) each scored 19 points to lead the Gents while Wallace led the Bulldogs and all scorers with 24. Xavier Phillips added 10 and was the only other TLU player to reach double figures. Board scored eight for the Gents, senior G Kile Mingo (Cypress, Texas) scored nine off the bench, freshman G Quentin Beverly (Katy, Texas) added six, and senior G Tykeem Singleton (Fort Worth, Texas) scored five.
Thomas grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds as he recorded his team-best fourth double-double of the season and reached double figures for the 11th time this season, most on the team, and has done so in seven-straight games. He was 6-15 overall from the floor in 37 minutes, 6-8 at the free throw line, and hit his only 3-point attempt. Thomas added three steals and an assist. Baines' 19 points were a season high as he reached double figures for the fourth time this season. He was 4-11 overall, 4-9 from beyond the arc, and 7-9 from the FT line in 33 minutes. He added three rebounds, an assist, and a steal.
Board played 29 minutes and grabbed five rebounds to go with his eight points on 3-8 shooting and went 2-2 from the FT line with a pair of steals. Mingo came off the bench and played 27 minutes as he was 3-4 from beyond the arc with three rebounds, one assist, and one steal. Mingo now has 169 career 3-point baskets and is just three away from tying Andrew Wisniewski (172) for seventh-place all-time in program history.
Beverly sank a pair of clutch free throws with 11 seconds left in the game to give the Gents a 67-66 lead and finished a perfect 6-6 from the line, where he scored all six of his points on the night. He played 24 minutes and added a pair of rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Singleton hit one trey out of his five total points and grabbed two rebounds in 14 minutes.
Freshman G Cameron Walker (Bossier City, La.), senior G Ralph Johnson (White Castle, La.), senior G Jalen Behr (Athens, Ga.), senior F Joseph Wiggins (Bossier City, La.), and senior F Xavier Johnson (Baker, La.) all played but did not score while junior G Chrys Jackson (North Las Vegas, Nev.) scored one point in his seven minutes off the bench and grabbed one rebound. Mason Green scored nine for the Bulldogs, Easton Allen and DJ Ardoin each scored seven, and Isaac Orozco scored six.
The Bulldogs scored the first four points of the game but the Gents responded with an 11-0 run and held the Bulldogs scoreless for nearly four minutes. Centenary's lead grew to 18-6 at the 14:02 mark and it was not until Ardoin made a pair of free throws that the Bulldogs reached double digits, 21-10 at the 12:20 mark. Two free throws by Phillips got the Bulldogs with five at 26-21 with 6:55 left in the half to cap an 11-5 run but consecutive 3-pointers by Baines and Mingo stretched the Centenary lead back to 32-21 and a jumper by Green at the 4:22 mark were the Bulldogs' final points of the half as the Gents made five free throws in the final minutes of the half and led by 14 at the break.
The Bulldogs only scored 10 points in the first nine and a half minutes of the second half and a total of only 12 in a span of nearly 14 minutes going back to the final minutes of the first half, but a jumper by Phillips with just 3:31 remaining amazingly cut the deficit to single digits at 62-53 after a 20-4 TLU run in just over nine minutes. A dunk by Board gave Centenary a 65-56 lead with 2:50 remaining but a 3-pointer by Green followed by a jumper from Ardoin got the Bulldogs within four at 65-61 with 1:51 left. Philips made one of two free throws 18 seconds later and then a three-point play by Orozco tied the game at 65-65 with 56 seconds remaining.
Wallace went 1-2 at the free throw line with 31 seconds remaining followed by Beverly's two makes for the Gents' final lead of the game 20 seconds later before Wallace's game-winner broke the Gents' heart and stopped their season-high winning streak.
The Gents will play host to the Bulldogs on Sunday, Jan. 29 in their annual Senior Day contest set for 2 p.m. at the Gold Dome in what promises to be a highly-anticipated rematch.
See the Gents' complete season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mbkb/2022-23/schedule
Admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic contests. Live stats and live video stream are available for all Centenary home contests.
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