SEGUIN, Texas – The Gents Basketball team rallied from a seven-point, halftime deficit to take a lead late in the game, but the Tigers came back from four down to claim the win as third-seeded Centenary (13-13) fell to sixth-seeded Trinity (7-19) 65-63 in the Quarterfinals of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Friday night, February 22.
The Gents trailed the entire first half and most of the second until an 8-3 run gave Centenary its first lead. Down 49-45, freshman Gavin Thomas hit a three. Trinity split from the line, but Thomas answered with a layup for the seventh tie of the game. The Tigers hit two more from the line, but a Thomas three put Centenary up 53-52 with 7:47 left in the game – its first lead of the ballgame.
Later with the Gents down 56-55, freshman Ty Prince made a layup and Gavin Thomas hit a three to put Centenary up four – its largest lead of the game.
Thomas finished the game a perfect 4-for-4 from the field, including a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, for a season-high 11 points. In fact, he only had 14 points the entire season prior to tonight.
After Centenary took a four-point lead, the Tigers scored five-straight to take a lead into the final minute of the contest. Jordan Lippman drained a three and Danny Rivara made a jumper to put Trinity back up by one. Senior Treylan Matthews answered with a jumper, but Rivara hit a layup to put the Tigers back up by one with 22 seconds left.
With Trinity up two with seconds left, the Tigers missed a free throw and was called for a violation. However, Centenary's shot missed at the buzzer to close out the game.
In his final collegiate game, Matthews scored a game high 24 points. Classmate Kaharri Carter and freshman Kile Mingo added 10 points.
The Gents fell behind seven at the break when the only hit 27.8 percent (10-for-36) from the field in the first half.
Rivara paced Trinity with 20 points off the bench, while Lippman finished with 13.
This concludes the 2018-19 season for the Gents. All-Conference and the specialty awards will be announced following the two semifinal contests of the SCAC Tournament.
