Shreveport- The Centenary men's basketball team completed an impressive weekend sweep of Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference contests with an 87-78 victory over the Trinity University Tigers on Sunday at the Gold Dome.
The Gents (6-4, 2-1 SCAC) defeated Dallas 86-59 on Friday and are now 4-1 at home this season. Centenary is now an impressive 40-21 in conference regular-season contests over the last four seasons and The Maroon and White are 19-4 in their last 23 home games overall. Trinity, which was receiving votes in the latest (Dec. 12) D3Hoops.com Top 25 poll, fell to 8-2 and 2-1 in the conference. Centenary and Trinity, annually two of the top teams in the conference, have not split the last eight meetings over the last four seasons. The Gents were picked to finish third in the SCAC preseason poll while Trinity was chosen as the preseason favorite.
Centenary's 87 points matched its season-high scored in the season-opening win over Arlington Baptist (87-77) on Nov. 9. Sophomore G Braeden Board (Rayne, La.) led the way with a career-high 21 points in 26 minutes on 7-13 shooting. He connected on 7-10 free throw attempts, grabbed seven rebounds, and had one blocked shot. Board, whose previous career-high was 17 in the Gents' season-opening win over Arlington Baptist, reached double figures for the third time this season. Junior G Jalen Behr (Athens, Ga.) scored 14 points in 22 minutes on 5-7 shooting and was locked in from beyond the arc, nailing 4-5 attempts. He grabbed four rebounds and had one blocked shot and one steal. Behr scored in double figures and matched his season high after previously scoring 14 against ETBU on Nov. 20. He scored 19 in an exhibition against ULM on Dec. 1.
Senior G Kile Mingo (Cypress, Texas) reached double figures for the second game in a row as he recorded 10 in 17 minutes off the bench after scoring a season-high 13 in Friday's win. Mingo was 3-11 from the floor, 2-8 from beyond the arc, and 2-4 from the free throw line. He had seven rebounds, a season high, and one steal. Senior F Jarrell Taylor (Leesville, La.) added nine points in 14 minutes with five rebounds and two steals. He was 2-7 overall, 1-4 from three-point range, and 4-4 from the free throw line.
Junior F Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas), junior G Drew Young (Lake Charles, La.), and fellow junior G Ralph Johnson (White Castle, La.) each scored eight points. Thomas, after scoring a team-high 17 on Friday, was 2-7 from the floor in 23 minutes, 1-3 from beyond the arc, and 3-4 from the free throw line. He grabbed seven rebounds, had four steals, and three assists. Young started and played 24 minutes, making 2-3 shots (both three-point attempts) and went 2-2 from the line. He had a pair of rebounds, two assists, and one steal. Johnson added a game-high six assists in 24 minutes of action and was 3-7 shooting and 2-2 from the free throw line.
Senior G AJ Hall (Thibodaux, La.) scored four points in 18 minutes with thre rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. Junior F Joseph Wiggins (Bossier City, La.) scored three points in 11 minutes with a rebound, and a blocked shot. Sophomore F Dylan Hooter (Mandeville, La.) played four minutes, scored two points, had one rebound, and blocked a shot.
The Gents shot 37.7 % overall for the game (26-69), were 10-29 (34.5%) from beyond the arc, and shot a season-high 34 free throws and made a season-best 25 for 73.5 %. Centenary has made 10 or more treys in a game six times this season and have made 37 over the last three games in 94 attempts for an impressive 39 %. Trinity outrebounded Centenary, 50-42, but the Gents' 42 boards were just one shy of their season high and the fourth time they have exceeded 40 rebounds in a game this season.
Trinity shot 38.1 % overall and also frequented the free throw line, making 26-37 attempts for 70.3 %, The Tigers however struggled from long range, going just 4-25 from three-point land. Three Trinity players scored in double figures led by 21 from Tanner Brown. He also grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and went 10-13 from the free throw line in 26 minutes. Griffin Levine scored 11 with three rebounds, two assists, and two steals in 22 minutes off the bench, and Enzo Sechi scored 14 in 18 minutes with three rebounds on 6-12 shooting.
Centenary recorded 14 assists, 10 steals, and six blocked shots while Trinity tallied 12 assists, eight steals, and blocked three shots. The Gents led at the half by one, 39-38, after a back and forth first half. The teams traded baskets for the better part of the first half until a mini run by Trinity gave them a 23-16 lead at the 10:38 mark. The Gents, though, stormed back with an 11-2 run capped off by a trey from Behr to make it 27-25 Centenary with 7:57 left in the half. Another three by Behr at the 2:04 mark made it 35-33 Gents after several ties and then Trinity's Ben Hanley sank a pair of free throws to tied the game at 35-35.
A three by Levine gave Trinity a 38-35 lead with just 1:25 remaining before halftime, but the Gents scored the final four points of the half to take the slight edge into the break. Board made a pair of free throws and a jumper by Johnson with 19 seconds left gave the Gents the lead. Behr stayed hot to start the second half, hitting a three pointer just 27 seconds in for a 42-38 lead and then Young hit his pair of three's in a span of 30 seconds to make it 48-40 Centenary with 17:40 left.
A jumper by Behr seconds later gave the Gents their first double-digit lead of the game, 50-40 at the 17:07 mark. Thomas connected from deep with 15:04 left for a 57-44 advantage and a three by Mingo at the 12:41 mark made it 60-46 Gents. Thomas hit a pair of free throws for a 68-50 lead with 7:38 remaining for Centenary's largest lead of the afternoon. Trinity battled back, though, and closed to within 75-68 at the 2:02 mark following an 18-7 run. Centenary responded with several key defensive stops and clutch free throw shooting to close out the game.
The Gents will next be in action at home against Southwestern on Friday, Dec. 31 at 2 p.m. and Texas Lutheran on Saturday, Jan. 1 at 2 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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