Gents Lose To Celts On Sunday

Houston – The Centenary men's basketball team lost 70-58 to the University of St. Thomas Celts on Sunday afternoon in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference contest at the Jerabeck Center.

The Gents (6-11, 4-4 SCAC) led the Celts (16-1, 8-0 SCAC) by a score of 32-27 at halftime but St. Thomas outscored Centenary 43-26 in the second half to seal the win. Centenary dropped to 1-4 on the road this season while St. Thomas improved to 10-0 at home as the Celts won their 11^th game in a row.

Centenary shot the ball well, finishing 19-47 for 40.4 % as the Maroon and White finished a red-hot 50 % from the floor in the first half. The Gents made 5-18 from beyond the arc for the game for 27.8 % but were an impressive 15-18 from the free-throw line for 83.3 %. St. Thomas shot 44.7 % (21-47) from the floor for the afternoon, 24-29 from the FT line for 82.8 %, and finished 4-20 from 3-point range for 20 %. The Celts edged the Gents in the rebounding battle 29-25 and scored 32 points in the paint to the Gents' 18.

St. Thomas finished with a 15-8 advantage in second-chance points, 10-5 in fast break points, and 29-7 in bench points. Centenary turned the ball over 19 times which St. Thomas turned into 26 points and the Celts' 15 TO's led to 14 points for the Gents.

Junior G Quentin Beverly (Katy, Texas) led the Gents with 20 points and was joined in double figures by senior F Jakobi Greenleaf (Houston, Texas) who scored 13 and senior G Jalen Ned (New Orleans, La.) who scored 12. Senior G Craig Collier (North Little Rock, Ark.) added six and Freshman G Nicholas Addison (Cedar Hill, Texas) and freshman G Trenton Thomas (Cedar Hill, Texas) combined for seven.

Angel Johnson's game-high 22 points led the way for St. Thomas, Reyce Allen scored 16, and Marion Williams added 10. Five Celts combined to score 22 points and Allen grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for a double-double.

Beverly has scored in double figures eight times this season and finished 5-12 from the floor, 3-9 from beyond the arc, and 7-7 at the FT line in 39 minutes with three rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Greenleaf now has 12 double-digit scoring performances this season (tied for most on team with Collier) and was 4-7 from the floor and 5-7 at the FT line in 27 minutes with for rebounds, a blocked shot, and a steal. Ned reached double digits for the eighth time this season as he was 4-10 from the floor, 1-2 from beyond the arc, and 3-4 at the FT line in 36 minutes with nine rebounds, two assists, and a steal.

Collier had his eight-game streak of reaching double figures snapped as he finished 3-6 from the floor in 38 minutes with five rebounds, three assists, and a pair of steals. Addison was 2-4 from the floor in 15 minutes with three rebounds and an assist and Thomas played 29 minutes and had two assists and a rebound.

The Celts jumped out to a 6-0 lead at the 16:48 mark and led 16-7 with 13:05 remaining in the half, but the Gents went on a 9-0 run to tie the game at 16-16 with 9:30 left before halftime on a trey by Thomas. Ned then nailed a 3-pointer to give Centenary a 29-23 lead with 4:15 left and cap a 13-7 run. Beverly's trey gave the Gents a 32-26 advantage at the 2:32 mark and Angel Johnson went 1-2 at the FT line for the final point scored by either team in the half as the Gents led by five at halftime.

Each team made a basket in the opening moments of the second half and then Beverly was fouled attempting a 3-point basket and sank all three attempts to give Centenary a 37-29 lead with 18:15 on the clock. A layup by Williams tied the score at 39-39 with 14:42 on the clock to cap a 10-2 run. Allen made two FT's and Johnson hit a trey to give the Celts a 44-39 lead with 13:35 left in the half.

The Celts opened up a double-digit lead (52-42) with 8:25 left in the half after two Allen FT's. The Gents were able to cut their deficit to single digits a few times over the next few minutes, but the second half belonged to the Celts.

Next weekend's travels take the Gents to Kerrville, Texas on Jan. 31 to face Schreiner University and to San Antonio on Feb. 1 to face Trinity University.

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

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

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