San Antonio- The Centenary men's basketball team fell 80-59 on Friday night to the Trinity University Tigers in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference contest at the Ron & Genie Calgaard Gymnasium.
The Gents fall to 12-5 overall and 6-3 in SCAC play while the Tigers upped their record to 14-4 and 7-2 in conference action. Trinity won its ninth game in a row and avenged a 69-65 loss to the Gents in Shreveport back on Dec. 2 to earn a split of the season series.
The Tigers led 29-18 at halftime and outscored the Gents 51-41 in the second half to secure the win. Trinity raced out to a 7-0 lead three minutes into the game and led 15-2 with 13:04 remaining until halftime. The Gents did not reach double digits until the 6:02 mark of the half. Centenary did cut its deficit to seven points late in the half and were only down five with 15:06 left in the game but he Tigers proved too much on their home court in the end.
Trinity was clicking all night on offense and finishing a sizzling 60 % (30-50) from the floor for the game while Centenary finished 36.8 % (21-57). The Tigers were on target from 3-point range, making 8-17 attempts for 47.1 % and finished 12-15 at the free throw line for 80 %. The Gents struggled from beyond the arc (6-26 for 23.1 %) and went 11-17 at the FT line for 64.7 %. The Tigers edged the Gents in overall rebounding, 30-29.
Trinity turned the ball over 21 times and the Gents gave it away 19 times. The Gents finished with eight assists, 11 steals, and blocked three shots while the Tigers tallied 18 assists, 12 steals, and two blocks. Trinity finished with a 40-26 edge in points in the paint and scored 20 points off of turnovers to centenary's 17. The Gents finished with a 17-6 advantage in second-chance points, the Tigers had a 77-7 edge in fast break points, and Trinity's bench scored 36 points while the Gents' contributed 25.
Senior F Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) led the Gents with 17 points on 5-8 shooting in 34 minutes. He just missed a double-double as he grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and added a team-best four assists and had two steals and a team-high two blocks. He was a perfect 7-7 from the FT line as he reached double figures for a team-high 16th time and has now done so in 12-consecutive games. Senior G Ralph Johnson (White Castle, La.) joined Thomas in double figures with a season-high 14 points as they were the only two Gents to score in double digits. Johnson reached double figures for the second time this season as he came off the bench and played 21 minutes and went 5-9 from the floor, 1-3 from beyond the arc, and 3-4 from the FT line with three steals and a pair of rebounds.
Junior G Jerrick Baines (Alexandria, La.) added nine points in 26 minutes on 3-9 shooting and hit a pair of treys in six attempts and went 1-2 at the FT line. He grabbed a pair of rebounds and had one assist. Junior G/F Dylan Hooter (Mandeville, La.) scored a season-high six points in his 16 minutes off the bench as he nailed a pair of 3-pointers. Senior G Kile Mingo (Cypress, Texas) scored five in 16 minutes, finishing 2-8 from the floor and hit one trey in seven attempts with four rebounds and a steal.
Senior G Tykeem Singleton (Fort Worth, Texas) and freshman G Quentin Beverly (Katy, Texas) each scored four points as Singleton played 27 minutes and was 2-5 from the floor with six rebounds, one steal, and one blocked shot and Beverly was 2-8 from the floor in 21 minutes with an assist, a rebound, and a steal. Junior G Braeden Board (Rayne, La.), senior G Jalen Behr (Athens, Ga.), junior G Chrys Jackson (North Las Vegas, Nev.), and freshman G Cameron Walker (Bossier City, La.) all played but were each held scoreless. Board grabbed a rebound and dished out a pair of assists, Behr had two steals and one rebound, Jackson had one rebound, and Walker had a steal.
Four Tigers reached double figures led by a game-high 18 points from A. J. Clark. Jacob Harvey scored 11 and Ben Hanley and Tanner Brown each scored 10. Braxton Barry grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds and scored eight points.
Centenary will complete the weekend with another key conference game on Saturday against Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas at 4 p.m. The Gents beat the Mountaineers by a score of 84-79 at home back on Dec. 4. Schreiner (9-9, 3-6 SCAC) fell at home on Friday night to St. Thomas by a score of 74-69.
See the Gents' complete season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mbkb/2022-23/schedule
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