Gents Fall In Offensive Battle To LeTourneau At Home

Shreveport – The Centenary men's basketball team fell 98-87 to the LeTourneau University YellowJackets in an offensive battle on Tuesday evening in a non-conference contest inside the Gold Dome.

The Gents (3-8) took a break from conference play after recording a thrilling Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference win over the University of the Ozarks Eagles 69-68 on Saturday evening in Clarksville, Ark. Junior G Quentin Beverly (Katy, Texas) scored a career-high 32 points for the Gents but it was not enough to overcome the YellowJackets (12-3).

LeTourneau led 53-43 at halftime and then edged Centenary by a point (45-44) in the second half to secure the road win. The Gents are now 2-5 at home this season while the YellowJackets are now 4-1 on the road.

Both teams shot the ball well as the Gents finished 32-65 (49.2 %) from the floor for the game and went 11-26 from beyond the arc for 42.3 %. The YellowJackets were 36-74 for 48.6 % and finished 13-29 from 3-point range for 44.8 %. Centenary was 12-18 from the free-throw line (66.7 %) and LeTourneau finished 13-14 for 92.9 %.

The Gents shot 48.5 % from the floor in the first half and an even 50 % in the second half while the YellowJackets were 48.8 % in the first half and 48.4 % after halftime. LeTourneau won the rebounding battle, 38-30, with 24 on the defensive end along with 14 offensive boards and Centenary finished with 21 defensive rebounds and nine offensive boards.

Beverly was joined in double figures by senior G Craig Collier (North Little Rock, Ark.) who had 20 and senior G Jalen Ned (New Orleans, La.) who scored 15. Senior F Jakobi Greenleaf (Houston, Texas) added seven, freshman G Allen Paul (Katy, Texas) scored three, and freshman G Nicholas Addison (Cedar Hill, Texas) had two points. Senior G Kyron Powell (Fort Worth, Texas) scored a career-high eight points.

Four YellowJackets scored in double figures, led by 28 from Deonte Jackson. Jackson Mayes scored 21, Walker Blaine had 20, and Caedmon Liebengood had 10. Blaine grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, Liebengood pulled down seven, and Teigan Edwards had six to go with six points.

Greenleaf led the Gents in rebounding with seven, Addison had five, and Collier and Ned each had four. Powell grabbed three and Beverly and Paul each had one rebound.

Beverly played 35 minutes and finished 10-19 from the floor, 5-10 from beyond the arc, and 7-8 from the FT line with a steal. Beverly hit five treys in a game for the second time this season and scored 30 points for the second time in his career after scoring 30 last season at home against the University of Dallas.

Greenleaf was 3-7 from the floor and 1-2 from the FT line in 37 minutes with four assists, a blocked shot, and a steal. Collier played 38 minutes and was 7-19 from the floor, 4-10 from beyond the arc, and 2-2 at the FT line with three assists and a steal. Ned was 7-10 from the field and 1-2 at the FT line with two assists and a steal.

Powell was 3-6 from the floor, 1-2 at the FT line, and 1-4 from beyond the arc in 23 minutes off the bench with two steals. Addison played 19 minutes and was 1-3 from the floor with an assist, a steal, and two blocked shots. Paul played eight minutes and had a trey with one assist.

Jackson played 37 minutes and was 9-20 from the floor, 6-9 from beyond the arc, and 4-4 from the FT line with six assists, four rebounds, three steals, and a blocked shot. Mayes was 8-13 from the floor, 2-3 from beyond the arc, and 3-4 from the FT line in 25 minutes with a steal and an assist. Blaine was 8-13 from the floor, 2-5 from beyond the arc, and 2-2 at the FT line in 33 minutes.

LeTourneau won the battle in the paint, 44-38, and had 21 second-chance points to Centenary's 17. The YellowJackets also finished with a 16-8 advantage in fast break points and 27-10 in bench points. Centenary finished with 11 assists, seven steals, and three blocked shots while LeTourneau had 19 assists, 10 steals, and one blocked shot. The Gents turned the ball over 17 times and the YellowJackets gave it away 15. Centenary turned LETU's 15 miscues into 24 points and the visitors scored 17 points off of the Gents' TO's.

Jackson made a trey just 19 seconds into the game as a sign of things to come and the visitors jumped out to a 7-2 lead, but a 3-point basket by Powell tied the game at 9-9 with the assist to Collier at the 17:06 mark. A layup by Ned less than a minute later gave the Gents an 11-9 lead and their first lead of the half. Beverly was then fouled shooting a trey and he sank all three FT's to increase centenary's advantage to 14-9 with 16:20 on the clock. A layup by Mayes gave LETU a 20-19 lead with 12:39 left in the half and another layup by Mayes at the 7:53 mark gave his team a 34-27 lead. A Mayes FT with just 44 seconds remaining before halftime gave LETU its biggest lead of the half at 53-40. Beverly's long trey beat the halftime buzzer and made it a 53-43 game at the break.

The YellowJackets were able to maintain a fairly comfortable lead of 6-10 points for the first 10 minutes of the second half, but the Gents began to chip away at their deficit. A 60-48 lead following a Connor Miller trey at the 16:54 mark of the second half was followed by a 12-4 Centenary run and the LETU lead was trimmed to 64-60 after a jumper by Greenleaf at the 13:30 mark. A layup by Beverly got the Gents within three at 66-63 at the 12:17 mark but the YellowJackets answered with 3-point baskets on their next two possessions while Beverly hit another in between and Collier's jumper made it a 74-68 game with 11:13 left in the half.

Two FT's by Collier and another trey by Beverly got the Gents within a point at 74-73 with 10:01 left, but seconds later Blaine answered with a trey to put LETU back up 77-73. Greenleaf went 1-2 at the line and a layup by Powell made it 77-76 and then Mayes' jumper gave the YellowJackets a 79-76 lead with 8:13 on the clock. Collier drained a 3-pointer to tie the game at 79-79 as the Gents worked all the way back from a double-digit deficit just eight minutes earlier. Powell's layup gave the Gents their first lead at 81-79 with 7:44 left, but just seconds later, Jackson nailed a trey to put LETU back up 82-81.

Consecutive layups by Ned gave the Gents an 85-82 lead but Blaine and Miller made baskets on LETU's next two possessions as the back and forth battle continued and the YellowJackets went up 86-85. LETU then scored the next four points to increase its lead to 90-85 with 4:25 left. Powell went 1-2 at the line to make it 90-86 but Walker made a pair at the line with 2:40 remaining to give LETU a 92-86 lead. A layup by Edwards and a pair of FT's by Jackson at the 1:02 mark gave LETU a 96-86 lead. Jackson then sank another pair with 19 seconds remaining to make it 98-86 and Beverly made 1-2 at the line with 16 seconds left for the final scoring of the game. After Ned's layup gave the Gents an 85-82 lead with 6:13 left, LETU outscored Centenary 16-2 down the stretch to seal the win.

The Gents will return to league play on Sunday as the face the University of Dallas Crusaders to the Gold Dome for a 2 p.m. contest. Centenary will play its next four games at home, all in conference play, as the Gents face Austin College on Tuesday, Jan. 14 and Southwestern University (Jan. 17) and Texas Lutheran University (Jan. 19) next weekend.

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

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