Gents Set For 2022 SCAC Championship On Friday

Posted: Feb 25, 2022

Sherman, Texas - The Centenary men's basketball team will make its ninth-straight appearance in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament on Friday when the No. 5 seed Gents take the court against the No. 4 seed Texas Lutheran Bulldogs in a quarterfinal contest set for Noon inside Hughey Gymnasium.

Live stats and live video are available for the game at the links below:

Stats: https://scacsports.prestosports.com/sports/mbkb/2021-22/boxscores/20220225_kw1o.xml

Video: https://collegetvticket.com/live-events/

The Gents (12-12, 7-9 SCAC) and Bulldogs (10-14, 8-8 SCAC) will be facing each other for the second time in seven days after TLU defeated Centenary 58-47 last Saturday in the regular-season finale in Seguin, Texas. Friday's meeting will also be the third between the two schools this season after the Gents recorded a dominating 95-62 win on Jan. 24 at home.

University of St. Thomas, the defending SCAC tournament champion, enters this year's event as the No. 1 seed with a 14-2 conference mark. The Celts, who also won the regular season title in their first season in the league in 2019-20, defeated Trinity 80-66 to take the 2021 tournament title which was contested over three weekends.
With St. Thomas sitting at 20-5 and second-seeded Trinity at 21-4, this year marks the first time since the 2009 event that two teams enter the conference tournament with 20+ wins. Centre College had 20 wins and Trinity had 22 wins leading into that '09 championship.

Centenary, which clinched a berth in the tournament with a 77-55 win at Southwestern last Friday, also played the Bulldogs three times last season with the third and final meeting coming in the 2021 SCAC Championship quarterfinals on March 5, a 62-59 Centenary victory in the Gold Dome as quarterfinal and semifinal contests were played at campus sites last season. All three games last season between the two were played in Shreveport as the Gents and Bulldogs split a pair of regular-season games to win two of three in the season series.

Centenary has finished .500 or better in all five seasons under head coach Chris Dorsey, highlighted by an 18-10 (13-5 SCAC) finish in 2019-20 which included a conference tournament title and the school's first NCAA Tournament berth. The Gents have appeared in the SCAC Tournament championship game four times in their eight previous appearances and also have two semifinal appearances as one of the most successful programs in the event throughout the conference.

Centenary now has 45 conference wins in the last five seasons and its 38 wins over the previous four entering this season led the conference in that span. The Gents are now an impressive 25-13 in their last 38 conference games dating back to Jan. 25, 2020.

The Gents enter Friday's game averaging 73.2 PPG and are shooting 40.8 % from the floor as a team this season. Centenary, playing its usual stingy defense which has become a hallmark of Dorsey's tenure, is allowing just 68.6 PPG. The Gents also held 14 opponents to 70 points or less this season, nine coming in conference play.

The Gents are one of the most well-rounded and balanced teams in the conference, ranking in the top five in FG %, free throw %, blocked shots, steals, turnover margin, assist to turnover ratio, 3-point FG %, 3-point FG % defense, and 3-point FG's made, scoring offense, and scoring defense.

Three Gents average in double figures this season, led by senior F Jarrell Taylor (Leesville, La.) who averages 11.4 PPG. Senior G AJ Hall (Thibodaux, La.) is second on the team averaging 10.6 PPG and junior F Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) averages 10.0 PPG. Taylor is the Gents' top rebounder averaging 5.3/game and Thomas is second at 4.6/game.

Taylor has reached double figures 13 times this season and has scored 15 or more points in a game six times. He is the Gents' top shooter this season (45.5 %) and ranks in the top 10 in the SCAC in scoring, rebounding, defensive rebounds, FG %, 3-point FG's made, and leads the conference in 3-point FG %.

Hall has scored in double figures 12 times this season, topped 20 points twice, and scored 12+ points 10 times. Hall's 34 points against Southwestern on Jan. 12 are the most scored by a SCAC player in a game this season and his nine 3-point baskets made in that game are also a season single-game high. Eleven of Hall's double-digit scoring performances have come in conference play.

Junior F Joseph Wiggins (Bossier City, La.) scored a career-high 19 points in the regular-season finale at TLU last Saturday after recording his previous season and career-high of 13 in the win at Southwestern a day before. Wiggins played 33 minutes and made all eight of his shot attempts overall and went 3-5 from the free throw line. He grabbed five rebounds and blocked a shot.

Wiggins, senior G Kile Mingo (Cypress, Texas), junior G Ralph Johnson (White Castle, La.), junior G Jalen Behr (Athens, Ga.), and sophomore G Braeden Board (Rayne, La.) each average 6.2 PPG or more this season. Wiggins, Board, and Behr all average 3.0 rebounds/game or better and Johnson also averages 2.6 assists per game and 1.0 steals per game.

The Bulldogs average 71.8 PPG and allow 72.5. They shoot 3.8 % overall and have three players averaging double figures, led by Jamir Mason's 13.3 PPG. Xavier Phillips averages 12.8 and Sebastian Andrade 12.4 PPG. Mason is the Bulldogs' leading rebounder at 6.7/game.

No. 1 seed St. Thomas (20-5, 14-2 SCAC) will face the Centenary-TLU winner on Saturday at Noon in the semifinals and No. 2 seed Trinity (20-4, 12-3 SCAC) meets the Schreiner-Southwestern winner in semifinal number two on Saturday at 2 p.m. The championship game is set for Noon on Sunday, Feb. 27.

The seeds for this year's men's tournament are as follows:

1) St. Thomas (14-2 SCAC; 20-5 overall)
2) Trinity (13-3 SCAC; 21-4 overall)
3) Schreiner (12-4 SCAC; 14-11 overall)
4) Texas Lutheran (8-8 SCAC; 10-14 overall)
5) Centenary (7-9 SCAC; 12-12 overall)
6) Southwestern (6-10 SCAC; 9-16 overall)

The winner of this year's championship tournament will represent the conference in the NCAA Tournament as the league's automatic qualifier, with one noted exception. In its final season as a NCAA Division III provisional member, if St. Thomas were to win this year's tournament, then the highest-seeded team eligible to participate in the tournament will be selected, which would be Trinity as the No. 2 seeded team.

Friday - Quarterfinals at Austin College
Game 1 - Noon CT - #4 Texas Lutheran vs. #5 Centenary
Game 2 - 2 p.m. CT - #3 Schreiner vs. #6 Southwestern

Saturday - Semifinals at Austin College
Game 3 - Noon CT - #1 St. Thomas vs. Winner of Men's G1
Game 4 - 2 p.m. CT - #2 Trinity vs. Winner of Men's G2

Sunday - Finals at Austin College
Game 5 - Noon CT - Winner of Men's G3 vs. Winner of Men's G4

For more information on the 2022 SCAC Men's Basketball Tournament, click here for the official website.