Shreveport - The Centenary men's basketball team held off the Millsaps College Majors by a score of 67-62 in a non-conference contest on Tuesday evening at the Gold Dome.
The Gents (4-2) won their third-consecutive game while the Majors fell to 2-6. Centenary beat Millsaps for the second time in 10 days after recording a decisive 73-50 victory on Nov. 21 in Jackson, Miss.
Centenary is a stellar 25-7 in its last 32 home games over the last four seasons and the Gents are 14-9 all-time against the Majors. The Maroon and White have held the last three opponents to 62 points or less, two to 52 or less, and four to 65 or less this season.
Senior F Jarrell Taylor (Leesville, La.) led the Gents with 14 points on 5-12 shooting from the floor in 35 minutes. He was 1-4 from beyond the arc, 3-5 from the free throw line, and grabbed five rebounds. He added a pair of assists and a steal. Taylor has now reached double figures in five of the Gents' six regular-season games this season.
Sophomore G/F Dylan Hooter (Mandeville, La.) had his best performance of the young season on Tuesday as he scored a season-best nine points in 17 minutes off the bench. He hit 4-9 overall from the field and made his only free throw attempt. The sophomore grabbed three rebounds and had one steal. Senior G Kile Mingo (Cypress, Texas) also scored nine in 15 minutes. He was hot from deep as he nailed 3-6 three-point attempts and grabbed five rebounds along with three assists.
Junior G Jalen Behr (Athens, Ga.) scored eight points in 18 minutes on 3-5 shooting overall. He was 2-2 from beyond the arc and had two steals, one assist, and one rebound. Fellow junior G Ralph Johnson (White Castle, La.) also scored eight in his 34 minutes. He was 2-11 overall from the field but 4-4 from the free throw line. Johnson grabbed five rebounds and had two assists.
Junior F Joseph Wiggins (Bossier City, La.) added six points in 12 minutes of relief, shooting 2-4 overall and 2-2 from the line. He grabbed six rebounds and blocked a shot. Senior G AJ Hall (Thibodaux, La.) and junior F Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) each scored five off the bench. Hall played 20 minutes and was 2-6 from the floor with one trey and three boards. Thomas played 21 minutes and hit 3-4 free throw attempts and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. He also had one assist, one block, and one steal.
Sophomore G Braeden Board (Rayne, La.) started and played eight minutes but did not score. He did grab two rebounds and record an assist. Senior G Tevin Baker (Port Arthur, Texas) played 19 minutes and scored two points on 1-3 shooting. He had a rebound, a steal, and a pair of assists. Sophomore G Coby Harris (Lafayette, La.) came in late in the game and played a minute and hit a key free throw while grabbing a rebound.
The Gents shot 36.5 % (23-63) overall on the night, hit 7-23 attempts from beyond the arc (30.4%), and were a solid 14-18 from the free throw line. Centenary outrebounded the Majors 42-37 and only turned the ball over 13 times. The Gents tallied 12 assists, six steals, and a pair of blocked shots.
Millsaps shot 43.1 % for the game, making 25-58 attempts overall. The Majors however struggled from three-point range (6-25) and were only 6-12 from the free throw line. Millsaps picked up 12 assists, six steals, and three blocked shots but tuned the ball over 16 times.
Christian Evans led the Majors in scoring with 11 points in 25 minutes off the bench while Newlon Gillihan scored 10 with six rebounds. Cameron Williams scored nine with a game-high 11 boards. The Majors shot 52 % from the floor in the first half but Centenary's defense tightened after the half and held them to just 36.4 % in the final 20 minutes. The Gents on the other hand shot better in the second half as they connected on 11-26 attempts (42.3 %) overall and were 4-9 from three-point range.
The Gents scored 19 points off the Majors' 16 turnovers and received 35 points from their bench. Millsaps' bench was also solid as it supplied 27 points and scored 12 points off the Gents' turnovers. Centenary recorded 11 second chance points to eight for Millsaps.
Millsaps used its hot shooting early on to take a 13-5 lead at the 13:45 mark of the first half and a Bryce Brown layup with 11:25 remaining made it 18-7 and forced a Centenary timeout. A pair of free throws by Taylor cut the deficit to 23-21 at the 3:59 mark and 30 second later Johnson hit a jumper to tie the game.
A layup by Wiggins gave the Gents their first lead (29-28) of the game with 59 seconds left but a Brown basket just 15 seconds later gave the Majors a 30-29 lead. Centenary then missed four shots in the closing second of the half but a key rebound and basket off the glass by Behr before the buzzer gave the Gents a 31-30 halftime edge.
Behr nailed a trey at the 18:10 mark of the second half to give Centenary a 37-30 lead and then Millsaps began to claw back and recorded several defensive stops. The teams then began trading baskets for the next few minutes before each team went cold offensively. A free throw by Gillihan made the score 42-40 in favor of Centenary and neither team scored for the next four minutes until a Cam Rucker trey gave the Majors a 43-42 advantage at the 11:53 mark.
The score remained close over the next several minutes until Centenary began to heat up offensively. Mingo nailed a pair of three pointers in less than a minute for a 57-47 lead with under eight minutes to go and despite Millsaps cutting the deficit to single digits on multiple occasions down the stretch, clutch free throw shooting and rebounding allowed the Gents to close out the home win.
The Gents will now face the ULM Warhawks in an exhibition contest on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in Monroe. Wednesday's game from Fant-Ewing Coliseum is available to watch LIVE on ESPN+. The Gents are back home this weekend as they face Texas College on Saturday, Dec. 4 at 3 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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