Gents Ready for Rematch with St. Thomas in SCAC Tournament Semifinals on Saturday
The Centenary men's basketball team will face the St. Thomas Celts on Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the 2021 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship in a contest set for 3 p.m. at the John D. Jerabeck Activity and Athletic Center.
Houston – The Centenary men's basketball team will face the St. Thomas Celts on Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the 2021 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship in a contest set for 3 p.m. at the John D. Jerabeck Activity and Athletic Center.
Live stats and video will be available for the game at the links below:
Stats: https://ustcelts.com/sports/mbkb/2020-21/boxscores/20210313_720a.xml
Video: https://livestream.com/coopersports2/scacmensbasketball
The No. 3 seed Gents (8-3) edged the Texas Lutheran Bulldogs, 62-59, last Friday at home in the quarterfinals to advance. Centenary is the defending SCAC tournament champion. The Celts, the No. 2, seed, rallied to defeat Dallas at home last weekend by a score of 84-76 to improve their record to 9-4 on the season.
Centenary and St. Thomas are familiar with each other as they met Feb. 26-27 at the Gold Dome in the final two games of the regular season. The teams split as the Celts won 66-63 and the Gents returned the favor the next day with a thrilling 71-69 win in the regular season finale.
The Gents are an impressive 18-3 in their last 21 conference games dating back to Jan. 25, 2020. Centenary is also making its sixth appearance in the semifinals in the last eight years, having made the championship game four times in that span. Saturday will be just the fifth road game of the season for the Gents and first since a 67-60 loss at Dallas on Jan. 30.
"We are looking forward to playing this Saturday in the semifinal game," said Centenary head coach Chris Dorsey. "St. Thomas is a well-coached team with very talented players. We just played them two weeks ago, so we know each other's strengths and weaknesses. To compete with them again we are going to have to make shots.
"We haven't had a bad practice in two months and our guys are getting better daily. I'm excited to see how we execute on the day that means the most. I'm sure it will be a dog fight to the end. "
Centenary's superb pair of sophomores, Seth Thomas and Ralph Johnson, were each named to the 2020-21 All-SCAC Men's Basketball team, the league office announced on Thursday. Thomas was one of five players named to the All-SCAC First team while Johnson was named to the Third team. Centenary placed at least two players on the all-conference team for the second-consecutive season.
Thomas earned All-SCAC honors for the first time in his young career while Johnson was named to the team for the second-straight season. Johnson was named the SCAC Newcomer of the Year last season and also earned Honorable-Mention honors.
Sensational sophomore forward Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) enters Saturday's semifinal ranked in the top five in the SCAC in five categories and ranked in the top 10 in seven. He ranks third in the league in scoring (15.4 PPG), second in rebounding (8.8 RPG), second in steals (2.3 SPG), and first in defensive rebounds. He is also fifth in minutes played, eighth in free-throw percentage, and tied for ninth in blocked shots. He is also tied for 13th in three-point field goals made. He has scored in double figures in 10 of the Gents' 11 games this season, scored 20 or more points in a game three times, 15 or more five times, and had five double-doubles.
Fellow sophomore guard Ralph Johnson (New Iberia, La.) ranks 20th in the SCAC in scoring (10.6 PPG), eighth in assists per game (2.7 APG), tied for 10th in free-throw percentage, 10th in steals per game, and played the seventh-most minutes in the conference this season. Johnson led the Gents with 19 points on 6-13 shooting in 39 minutes in last Friday's thrilling 62-59 win over TLU in the quarterfinals. He added five rebounds, two assists, and three steals and reached double figures for the sixth time this season and scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half. Johnson recorded six double-figure scoring games this season which included a season-high 23 points at Dallas on Jan. 30.
Thomas scored 12 points in the win over TLU, grabbed six rebounds, made 4-5 of his free-throw attempts, and had two assists. He made a clutch shot in the lane with the game tied at 59-59 and got fouled and sank the ensuing free throw to complete a three-point play and put the Gents up 62-59 with just 29 seconds left the game.
Freshman forward Tre Washington (Gibson, La.) has been a key off the bench of late for the Gents. The physical freshman scored 14 points in just 18 minutes in the win over TLU as the 14 points are a new career high, breaking his previous high of 13 set on Feb. 27 versus St. Thomas. Washington also had five rebounds and a steal. Junior guard Kile Mingo (Cypress, Texas) scored nine points in 27 minutes, nailing a pair of three pointers and grabbing five rebounds. Mingo has had a solid junior season as he averages 9.6 PPG and 3.8 RPG and shoots 40. 2 % overall from the floor and 35.7 % from three-point range. He has reached double figures in scoring six times this season.
Junior guard AJ Hall (Thibodaux, La.) is averaging 7.9 PPG and 2.5 RPG and scored in double figures three times this season, including a season-high 16 versus the Celts on Feb. 27. Junior forward Neil Hawkins (Titusville, Fla.) is one of the top rebounders in the conference as he averages 6.5 boards per game which is 10th-best in the SCAC. He ranks sixth in the league in offensive rebounds and 15th in defensive rebounds.
Junior guard Tykeem Singleton (Fort Worth, Texas) averages 5.9 PPG and 2.9 RPG and has scored at least eight points four times this season and reached double figures once. Sophomore guard Drew Young (Lake Charles, La.) has started eight games this season and averages 3.8 PPG. Young is an exceptional free-throw shooter and is shooting 77.8 % for the season which is second on the team.
Saturday's game will be a classic offense versus defense matchup as the Gents are one of the top defensive teams in the nation while St. Thomas has one of the top offenses in the league. The Celts rank second in the SCAC in scoring offense (77.2 PPG) but the Gents rank first in the league in scoring defense as they allow an average of just 61.5 PPG.
Centenary is also first in field goal percentage defense (.385), number one in turnover margin (opponents average 19.5 turnovers per game), and second in steals (average nine/game). Centenary held the Celts below their season scoring average in both games late last month at home. The Gents rank in the top 20 in the nation in turnover margin (10th), turnovers forced (12th), scoring defense (12th), and FG % defense (20th).
A win on Saturday will land the Gents back in the championship game for the second season in a row. Centenary dominated TLU 77-56 on March 1, 2020 in Seguin, Texas to win the 2020 SCAC championship and clinch their first NCAA Tournament berth in school history.
Men's Tournament Bracket | Official Tournament Website
A link to the Gents' complete schedule can be found here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mbkb/2020-21/schedule.
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