Pineville, La. – The Centenary men's basketball team lost its first game of the season, 62-46, to the Louisiana Christian University Wildcats on Tuesday evening in a non-conference contest at H.O. West Fieldhouse.
The Gents (1-1) were playing their first road game of the season following a season-opening 87-77 victory over the Arlington Baptist University Patriots on Nov. 9 at home and an 86-69 loss to LSUS last Thursday in an exhibition contest at the Gold Dome. Louisiana Christian (formerly Louisiana College) improved to 4-3 with Tuesday's win.
Centenary was led in scoring by junior F Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas), senior F Jarrell Taylor (Leesville, La.), and Junior G Ralph Johnson (New Iberia, La.) as each scored eight points. Thomas grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, had three steals, and had one assist and one blocked shot. He also went 4-4 from the free throw line and played 24 minutes.
Taylor shot 4-10 from the floor in 19 minutes off the bench and grabbed five rebounds while Johnson played 29 minutes and had three assists, three steals, and two rebounds. Senior G Kile Mingo (Cypress, Texas) added five points in 23 minutes as he was 1-4 from the floor, 1-2 from beyond the arc and made both of his free throw attempts. He collected three rebounds and a pair of steals.
Sophomore G Braeden Board (Rayne, La.) played 24 minutes and scored two points with four rebounds and a steal. Senior G Tevin Baker (Port Arthur, Texas) made his first start of the season and scored four points in 18 minutes as he made 2-3 attempts from the floor and grabbed two rebounds, tallied two assists, and had two steals. Junior G Jalen Behr (Athens, Ga.) scored five points in 17 points off the bench and went 2-5 from the floor, made one trey, and blocked a shot. Senior G AJ Hall (Thibodaux, La.) played 22 minutes and scored four points as he made 2-3 FG attempts. He added two rebounds and a steal.
Centenary struggled offensively, shooting just 26.1 % for the game from the floor as the Gents made only 18 of their 69 shot attempts and made only two three pointers in 21 attempts. The Wildcats outrebounded the Gents 49-36 and shot 47.3 % for the night overall. LCU was an impressive 6-17 from three-point range and had 22 assists on 26 made baskets.
The Gents did force 24 turnovers and had 12 steals and only turned the ball over 12 times. Three Wildcats scored in double figures on Tuesday led by Jude Akabueze's 11 points in 17 minutes on 5-7 shooting overall.
The Wildcats took a 32-19 halftime lead after shooting an impressive 48.3 % from the floor and grabbed 26 rebounds. The game was back and forth for the first 10 minutes of the opening half as the teams traded baskets and stayed within a point or two of each other. A pair of free throws by Thomas cut the Wildcats' lead to 13-12 at the 10:02 mark but the second 10 minutes belonged to the home team as LCU ended the half on a 19-7 run. A three-pointer by Mingo cut the deficit to just six at 32-26 at the 16:24 mark of the second half but the Gents would only score four more points over the next seven and a half minutes and the Wildcats wound up with a 13-point lead at the 9:34 mark after a trey by Kae'ron Baker made it 43-30. Centenary would get the lead to single digits on multiple occasions down the stretch by the Wildcats were able to close the win out.
The Wildcats finished with a slight advantage in points in the paint (28-26) and bench points (25-19). The Gents scored 19 points off turnovers while LCU picked up 15. The aggressive Gents recorded 16 second-chance points to just five for the home team and Centenary picked up seven fast break points while the Wildcats had just two.
Centenary remains on the road this weekend as the Maroon and White will head to Jackson, Miss. to compete in the Millsaps Tournament Nov. 20-21 and finish up the road trip at Mississippi University for Women on Nov. 23 in Columbus, Miss. The Gents' next home game is Tuesday, Nov. 30 versus Millsaps at 6 p.m.
A link to the Gents' complete 2021-22 schedule can be found here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mbkb/2021-22/schedule
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