Irving, Texas -The Centenary men's basketball team hits the road this weekend for a pair of Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference contests in Texas, beginning with a matchup versus the University of Dallas Crusaders set for 7:30 p.m. at the Maher Center.
Live stats and live video are available for the game at the links below:
Stats: https://www.udallasathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2022-23/boxscores/20230203_xiba.xml
Video: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/udallas/
The Gents (14-6, 8-4 SCAC) recorded a pair of blowouts wins at home last weekend, a 71-52 victory over Southwestern on Friday and a 72-51 win over Texas Lutheran on Sunday, which was Senior Day for the Maroon and White. The Crusaders enter Friday's game at 9-11 overall and 3-8 in SCAC play. The Gents aim for a season sweep in the series after recording a dominating 90-70 win on Dec. 30 at home.
Centenary's win over TLU on Sunday set a new division III era (2012-present) single-season record for home wins as the previous record was 10. The Gents are 34-8 at the Gold Dome over the last 42 games. The Maroon and White have now won 14 or more games in a season three times under head coach Chris Dorsey and eight or more conference games in the regular season four times.
The Gents enter the weekend third in the conference standings, just a half game behind Trinity (15-5, 8-3 SCAC). St. Thomas is atop the standings at 19-2 overall and 12-0 in league play. Dallas is currently tied for seventh place with Austin College. Centenary looks to improve its road record as the Maroon and White are just 1-4 this season and 1-3 on the road in conference contests.
Centenary is one of the conference's and country's top defensive teams as it is on an annual basis in Dorsey's tenure. The Gents have now held 16 of their 20 opponents to 70 points or less, 60 or less eight times, and to 55 or less seven times. Centenary is currently ranked 28th in the country in all of division III in scoring defense, allowing just 63.8 PPG. The Gents are the league's top free-throw shooting team at 71.5 % and also lead the way in turnover margin (+4.65) and rank 19th nationally in the category. The Gents force 20.65 TO's per game – seventh-best in the country.
The Gents are second in the SCAC in scoring defense, behind only St. Thomas, and are fourth in both FG % defense (41.2 %) and 3-point FG % defense (30.7 %). Centenary also ranks third in the SCAC in scoring margin (+6.0), third in steals, fourth in both offensive rebounds and 3-point FG's made, and fifth in blocked shots.
Senior F Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) was named the SCAC Player of the Week on Monday, earning the honor for a third time this season, one of just two players in the league to win the award three times and has now done so five times in his career. Thomas, who topped 500 rebounds in his career in Sunday's win, is currently second in the SCAC in scoring (16.3 PPG) and tied for third in rebounding (7.7 RPG). He has scored in double figures in 15 straight games and a staggering 19 times this season.
He ranks second in the conference in minutes played, third in offensive rebounds, fifth in defensive rebounds, FG % and FT %, seventh in steals, 11th in assists, and tied for 12th in blocked shots. Thomas is shooting 52.7 % overall from the floor and 79.8 % from the FT line.
Thomas is just 43 points away from 1,000 for his career, and after eclipsing 500 career rebounds last weekend, he is set to become just the 19th player in program history to score 1,000 points and grab 500 rebounds in a career. Thirty-five players have scored 1,000+ points in their Gents' careers and 27 have reached 500+ rebounds in 96 years of Centenary basketball.
Junior G Braeden Board (Rayne, La.) and senior G Tykeem Singleton (Fort Worth, Texas) each rank in the top 30 in the conference in scoring as Board averages 8.7 PPG and Singleton is at 8.2 and scored a game-high 15 points on Sunday against TLU. Singleton, who has scored in double figures nine times this season, is also 16th in the SCAC in rebounding, averaging 5.0 RPG and 13th in FG % (45.5 %). Board is the Gents' second-best FT shooter as he is 79.2 % for the season to rank sixth in the conference. He also ranks 14th in the SCAC in steals and is tied for 12th in blocked shots with Thomas and has reached double figures seven times.
Senior G Jalen Behr (Athens, Ga.) was on a roll from beyond the arc last weekend, hitting six treys in the two Gents' wins and was 3-4 from deep versus TLU on Sunday. He has scored in double figures five times this season and is tied for 15th in the SCAC this season in 3-point FG's made. Junior G Jerrick Baines (Alexandria, La.) is 10th in the conference in 3-point FG's made and averages 7.6 PPG with seven double-digit scoring performances. Freshman G Quentin Beverly (Katy, Texas) averages 7.4 PPG and has reached double figures four times.
The Gents finish off the weekend on Saturday, Feb. 4 at Austin College (6 PM) in Sherman, Texas.
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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