Shreveport – The Centenary men's basketball team opened its regular season with an 89-72 victory over the Texas College Steers in a non-conference contest on Wednesday night inside the Gold Dome.
The Gents (1-0) won for the 36th time in their last 44 home games and are 12-2 in their last 14 while winning their season opener for the fourth-straight season. The Steers dropped to 1-3 on the season. Centenary shot an impressive 54.5 % (36-66) from the floor for the game, were hot from beyond the arc (13-28 for 46.4 %), and also solid in its brief visits to the free throw line, sinking 4-7 attempts for 57.1 %.
The Steers finished 29-59 from the floor for 49.2 %, went 10-19 from the FT line for 52.6 % and 4-15 from 3-point range (26.7 %). Texas College edged Centenary, 35-33, in the rebounding battle with 24 coming on the defensive end. The Gents finished with 22 assists, nine steals, and a blocked shot while turning the ball over 15 times. The Steers had 11 assists, 10 steals, blocked two shots, and turned it over 18 times.
Senior F Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) and senior G AJ Hall (Thibodaux, La.) each scored 20 points to led the Gents on offense and two other Gents reached double figures with Sophomore G Quentin Beverly (Katy, Texas) scoring 12 and junior F Jakobi Greenleaf (Houston, Texas) adding 11.
Five Steers scored in double figures, led by Derrick Singleton's game-high 21 points. Qyrique Dabon and Domonique each scored 12 and Najee Jones and Tim Denton each chipped in 10 while Tylor Harris scored seven.
Gents' freshman F Khristian Wilkerson (Killeen, Texas) scored six off the bench, senior G Jalen Behr (Athens, Ga.) and junior G Craig Collier (North Little Rock, Ark.) each scored five, sophomore G Dalyn Davis (Natchitoches, La.) scored four, and the Gents got two points each from freshman G Gerald Murage (Irving, Texas) and senior G Coby Harris (Lafayette, La.).
Centenary led 41-31 at the half after shooting 47.1 % from the floor and was red-hot in the second half, finishing 62.5 % overall as the Gents made 20-32 shots and 8-15 from beyond the arc for an impressive 53.3 %. The Steers were also on target in the second half, finishing 53.1 % (17-32) overall.
A jumper by Tylor Harris tied the game (59-59) with 10:47 left in the second half to cap a 28-18 run by the Steers, but Beverly immediately nailed a trey to give the Gents the lead again at 62-59. A layup by Greenleaf made it 75-64 centenary with 5:34 left as the hot-shooting Gents were able to build their lead back to double digits for the remainder of the half. The Gents scored 27 points off of the Steers' 18 turnovers and received 40 points from their bench while the Steers' bench contributed 31 points and scored 16 points off of TO's. Texas College scored 46 points in the paint to Centenary's 34, each team finished with nine second-chance points, and the Steers finished with a slight edge (14-12) in fast break points.
Centenary hits the road this weekend as the Maroon and White will play a pair of games in the Hawks Classic hosted by Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Ala. The Gents will face the host Hawks on Saturday at 7 p.m. and then meet LaGrange on Sunday at 2 p.m.
See the complete Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mbkb/2023-24/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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