Gents Drop 81-70 Decision To Berry At Home

Shreveport – The Centenary men's basketball team dropped an 81-70 decision to the Berry College Vikings in non-conference play on Saturday afternoon at the Gold Dome.

The Gents (1-3) were playing their fourth game in a span of just nine days to begin the season while the Vikings improved to 2-2 this season. Saturday's game was the first meeting in history between the two schools.

Senior G Jalen Ned (New Orleans, La.) led the Gents with a season-high 20 points and was one of four Centenary players to score in double figures. Isaac Martin scored a game-high 21 points to lead five Vikings in double figures.

The Gents led 38-33 at halftime but the Vikings outscored them 48-32 in the second half to secure the double-digit road win. Centenary shot 43.4 % (23-53) from the floor for the game, 31.0 % (9-29) from beyond the arc, and 78.9 % (15-19) from the free-throw line. Berry finished 24-57 from the floor for 42.1 %, a red-hot 41.0 % from 3-point range (16-39), and 73.9 % (17-23) at the FT line.

Berry edged Centenary in the rebounding battle 35-33 as the visitors grabbed 12 on the offensive end to go with 23 defensive boards. The Gents finished with eight offensive rebounds and 25 on the defensive end. Both teams took good care of the ball overall as the Vikings committed just 11 turnovers and the Gents had 13.

The Vikings had 19 assists, 19 second-chance points, 14 points in the paint, 13 fast break points, and eight bench points while the Gents tallied nine assists, eight second-chance points, 26 points in the paint, 11 fast break points, and received 20 points from the bench. Berry scored 10 points off of Centenary's 13 TO's and the Gents turned the Vikings' 11 miscues into 14 points. The game featured four ties and four lead changes with the Gents' lead of the game being eight points and Berry's was 15. Centenary finished with five steals and a blocked shot and Berry had eight steals and blocked a pair of shots.

Berry was solid offensively in the first half, shooting 38.5 % (10-26) and finished 6-18 from beyond the arc and 7-11 at the FT line, but the Vikings heated up after halftime as they were 14-31 from the field for 45.2 %. They also connected on 10-21 attempts from 3-point range for 47.6 % and sank 10-12 at the FT line for 83.3 %. Centenary was on fire in the first half as the Gents went 13-26 from the floor (50 %), 6-15 from 3-point range for 40 %, and made all six FT attempts. The Gents, however, struggled in the second half as they were 10-27 for 37 % from the floor, 3-14 from beyond the arc (21.4 %), and 9-13 at the FT line for 69.2 %.

Martin, the game's leading scorer, played 31 minutes and was 6-10 shooting and all six were from beyond the arc. He scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half as he connected on 5-8 attempts from deep. He was 3-3 at the FT line with four assists, two rebounds, and a steal. Jacob Morgan scored 16 and grabbed seven rebounds in 32 minutes as he was 4-8 from the floor, 4-7 from beyond the arc, and 4-6 at the FT line with four assists and a steal. Drew Winegarden added 13, Parker Godwin scored 12, and Braxton Benham had 11.

Ned was 6-10 from the floor in 37 minutes in his best game of the young season. He went 4-6 from beyond the arc and 4-5 at the FT line with seven rebounds, two steals, and one assist. Senior F Jakobi Greenleaf (Houston, Texas) had 13 points and nine rebounds in his 25 minutes on 5-6 shooting. He went 3-3 at the FT line and had one assist. Freshman G Sirwilliam McDuffie (Houston, Texas) had a season-high 11 points in 17 minutes as he was 3-7 from the floor (all three made baskets were treys) and went 2-2 at the FT line with a rebound and a blocked shot.

Freshman G Nicholas Addison (Cedar Hill, Texas) scored 10 as he reached double figures for the third-straight game. The rookie was 4-7 from the floor in 27 minutes and 2-3 from the FT line with nine boards, two assists, and a steal. Junior G Zyquarius Cowart (Rayville, La.) scored a season-high eight points in 13 minutes off the bench. He was 2-6 from the floor with one trey and went 3-4 at the FT line with a steal and a rebound. Freshman G Allen Paul (Katy, Texas) scored two in 35 minutes with a rebound and a steal. Senior G Craig Collier (North Little Rock, Ark.) was held to just five points in 29 minutes on 2-8 shooting as he was 1-6 from beyond the arc with five assists and two rebounds as he failed to score in double figures for the first time this season. Freshman G Noah Brookter (Youngsville, La.) played a season-high 12 minutes and scored one point.

The teams traded baskets for much of the first half until a pair of free throws by Cowart gave the Gents a 20-15 lead with 10:24 remaining. But, Berry went on a 9-0 run to take a 24-20 lead with 8:03 left. Cowart nailed a trey to make it 24-23 with 7:26 on the clock and a McDuffie 3-pointer at the 3:37 mark gave the Gents a 34-27 lead. A layup by Greenleaf with 20 seconds remaining before halftime made it a 38-30 game and marked the largest lead of the half, but Benham's trey at the buzzer enabled the Vikings to cut their deficit to five (38-33) at the intermission.

Morgan's trey at the 17:39 mark of the second half put Berry ahead 42-40 and Martin hit the first of his five treys in the half at the 16:57 mark to make it 45-41 Berry. He connected again with 14:20 on the clock to give the Vikings a 10-point lead (53-43) and though the Gents were able to trim their deficit to just six at the 6:21 mark, it grew to 15 after another back-breaking trey by Martin which gave the Vikings their largest lead of the game, 75-60 with 3:46 remaining. Centenary got its deficit back to single digits at nine points with under a minute left in the game, but Berry 4-5 FT's down the stretch to seal the comeback win.

The Gents will hit the road next weekend for the first time this season as they will play three games in the Millsaps College Tournament in Jackson, Miss.

See the complete Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mbkb/2024-25/schedule

Admission is FREE to all Centenary home men's basketball games. Live stats and live video stream are available for all Centenary home contests.

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