Shreveport – The Centenary men's basketball team will play host to the University of St. Thomas this weekend at home in a battle of the two of the top teams in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference to close the regular season beginning Friday with a game set for approximately 8 p.m. at the Gold Dome.
The Gents (6-2) and Celts (7-3) are both assured of finishing as one of the league's top four seeds meaning each school will host a first round game in the 2021 SCAC Men's Basketball Championship next weekend. The teams will meet again on Saturday at approximately 4 p.m. Live stats and live video will be available for both games at the links below:
Live Stats: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mbkb/2020-21/boxscores/20210226_13au.xml
Live Video: https://collegetvticket.com/portal/centenary
The SCAC office today announced a format change for the men's and women's basketball tournaments earlier this week, which will begin the weekend of March 5-7 on campus sites around the conference. Normally conducted over one weekend among the top six teams at a single predetermined site, this year the top eight men's and women's teams will qualify for the postseason conference tournament which will stretch over three weekends.
First round play will be conducted the weekend of March 5-7, semifinals are scheduled for March 12-14 and the men's and women's championship will occur the weekend of March 19-21. The top four seeds will host first round games on both the men's and women's side, and the top remaining seeds will host semifinal and championship rounds.
Centenary had its scheduled off weekend Feb. 12-13 and then had a pair of games at Austin College on Feb. 19-20, thus the Gents will take the court on Friday for the first time in 17 days. The Gents completed a two-day sweep of the Colorado College Tigers at home in their most recent action on Feb. 8 and 9 as they displayed dominant defense in both game and made history in the process.
The Gents, who won 59-43 on Feb. 8, made history the following night as they won by a score of 51-37, which marks the fewest points scored by an opponent in the history of the Gold Dome (1970-present). The previous low was by the University of Dallas in a 57-39 Gents win on Dec. 18, 2018. The 37 points also marks the fewest number of points allowed by the Maroon and White in the division III era (2012-present).
Centenary is now an impressive 16-2 in its last 18 conference games dating back to Jan. 25, 2020 and won for the eighth time in its last nine home games. Centenary, which went 10-1 at home last season, is now 13-2 in its last 15 games at the Gold Dome.
The Celts split a pair of games at Texas Lutheran two weeks ago and then had their two scheduled home games with Colorado College cancelled last weekend.
This weekend's matchups feature two of the top teams in the league in a multitude of statistical categories and will pit the league's top offense against its best defense. The Gents are of the top defensive clubs in the SCAC as well as in the country among division III teams. Centenary leads the conference in scoring defense, allowing just 60.2 points per game and also is the league leader in field goal percentage defense (.384 %) and ranks first in turnover margin. The Gents rank second in steals and third in scoring margin. Only two teams have scored more than 70 points in a game this season versus the Maroon and White and Centenary have held three opponents to 52 points or less.
The Celts come into Friday's game averaging a conference-best 78.4 points per game and are first in scoring margin. They also rank third in free-throw percentage, third in steals, and are first in both rebounding offense and defense. The Gents are second in free-throw percentage and rank second in the SCAC in offensive rebounds per game, averaging 13.1, and have the third-most (105) this season in the league.
This weekend will feature two of the top five scorers in the conference and seven total that rank in the top 25 and five players that rank in the top 15 in the league in rebounding, including a pair in the top five. Both the Gents and Celts have players scattered throughout the top five and top 10 in every major individual statistical category and each features a potential SCAC Player of the Year candidate.
The Gents as a team rank 10th in the nation in division III in scoring defense, 19th in field goal % defense, 31st in three-point field goal % defense, and are 14th in turnovers forced. Centenary also ranks 44th in the country in steals (72), 29th in steals per game (9.0) and 63rd in free throws made (110-156). Their 70.51 % free throw percentage ranks 84th.
Sophomore forward Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) is that potential POY for the Gents. Thomas scored a team-high 11 points and grabbed a team-best 11 rebounds in the Feb. 9 over Colorado College as he recorded his fifth double-double of the season and sixth in his career. He has now scored in double figures in seven of eight games this season and ranks fifth in the SCAC in scoring as he averages 14.9 PPG and is second in rebounding, averaging 9.9 per game. He is also second in steals, seventh in free-throw percentage, and 10th in blocked shots. He leads the league in defensive rebounds (65 total/8.1/game), and is also 14th in offensive rebounds. Thomas ranks in the top 40 in the country in defensive rebounds per game, steals, and total rebounds.
St. Thomas is led by freshman forward Adam Kanafani, a Houston native, who ranks fourth in the league in scoring (15.2 PPG) and rebounding (8.1 RPG) as he is just ahead of Thomas in scoring and behind him in rebounding. He is eighth in the SCAC in field goal percentage and is second in defensive rebounds, just behind Thomas. Junior guard Juan Hood is seventh in scoring, second in assists, sixth in three-point field goal percentage, and 10th in free-throw percentage.
Sophomore guard Ralph Johnson (New Iberia, La.) has turned in another excellent campaign after being named the 2019-20 SCAC Newcomer of the Year last season. Johnson averages 9.5 PPG (second on team, 3.0 assists per game (leads team) and 3.0 rebounds per game (fifth). He is seventh in the league in assists, tied for ninth in steals, is seventh in assists to turnover ratio, and is 21st in scoring.
Junior forward Neil Hawkins (Titusville, Fla.) ranks third in the league in offensive rebounds and ninth in overall rebounding. Hawkins has grabbed at least seven rebounds in four of the Gents' last five games. Fellow junior guard Kile Mingo (Cypress, Texas) is having a solid season as well as he currently ranks 22nd overall in scoring (9.3 PPG) which is third-best on the team and is 15th in three-point field goal % and is tied for sixth in three point FG's made.
The Gents and Celts split a pair of games last season, with each team winning on its home court. St. Thomas picked up a 94-68 win in Houston and then the Gents returned the favor the following month with its biggest win in the division III era at the time with a 99-89 win at the Gold Dome. The Gents tied a school single-season record for conference wins in a season with that win last season and extended their season-best winning streak to six games and marked the first time a Centenary team had won six in a row since the 2015-16 season. The number of conference wins and winning streak were both division III program record at that point.
A link to the Gents' complete schedule can be found here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mbkb/2020-21/schedule.
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