KERRVILLE, Texas – Entering the season with a six-game losing streak to the Mountaineers, Gents Basketball had not swept the season series with them since 2014-15. It took five minutes of extra fun, but Centenary (9-10, 6-4 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference) completed the regular season sweep of Schreiner (8-10, 4-5 SCAC) 71-66 Friday night, February 1.
With Centenary down 56-55 with seconds left, the Gents lost the ball. Schreiner came up with the steal; however, the Mountaineers tried to call a timeout it did not have, giving the Gents a free throw to try and tie the game. Junior Cedric Harris was successful from the charity stripe and Schreiner traveled before it could get a shot off on the ensuing possession as the game went to overtime.
Centenary scored the first eight points of the overtime and never trailed the rest of the game. While the Gents usually concede the tip to their opponents to begin the game, they won the tap in the extra session and senior Kaharri Carter made a layup. After a pair of stops, freshman Kile Mingo and senior Treylan Matthews both hit a pair from the line. Freshman Ty Prince hit a jumper to put the Gents up 64-56 with 2:20 left in overtime.
Schreiner cut the lead to one with 13 seconds left, but it missed a pair of three pointers while Matthews hit all four free throws for the final five-point margin.
Matthews led all scorers with 20, including a 7-for-9 mark from the line. Carter narrowly missed the double-double, finishing with eight points and 12 boards. Harris added 15 points while Prince contributed 14.
The Gents trailed by as much as nine early in the second half and was down 44-39 before nine straight in less than two minutes. Matthews hit a three, followed by a Mingo steal and a Harris three to quickly give Centenary the lead. After a defensive stand, Prince capped the run with a triple.
Schreiner trailed 54-48, but held Centenary without a field goal for the final five minutes of regulation to retake the lead. Chase Pinter hit a three before Carter split from the line. Both teams went scoreless for nearly three minutes until Ellis Joins buried a three. Both teams then went scoreless for more than a minute before a steal and layup by Josh Bradford gave the home team the 56-55 lead with 16 seconds left in regulation.
Jones led Schreiner with 15 points, while Matthew Rindahl contributed 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Centenary looks to complete its first weekend SCAC sweep of the season Saturday night, February 2, at Trinity. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.
