Gents and Celts Set For Battle of SCAC's Top Two Teams
The Centenary men's basketball team takes aim at the league leader, the University of St. Thomas Celts, on Tuesday night in a key Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference contest set for 7:30 p.m. at the Jerabeck Center.
Houston- The Centenary men's basketball team takes aim at the league leader, the University of St. Thomas Celts, on Tuesday night in a key Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference contest set for 7:30 p.m. at the Jerabeck Center.
Live stats and live video are available for the game at the links below:
Stats: https://ustcelts.com/sports/mbkb/2022-23/boxscores/20230214_yb9u.xml
Video: https://livestream.com/coopersports3/ustbasketball
The Gents (17-6, 10-4 SCAC) enter Tuesday's play tied for second in the conference standings with Trinity (17-6, 10-4 SCAC) while the Celts (21-2, 14-0 SCAC) are atop the standings and are ranked #13 nationally in the current D3hoops.com Top 25 poll.
The Celts, playing their final home game of the regular season on Tuesday, edged the Gents 54-50 at the Gold Dome on Jan. 10 in the previous meeting between the two teams. Centenary enters play riding a five-game winning streak, its second longest of the season while St. Thomas has won eight in a row and is a perfect 11-0 at home this season. Both teams finish their regular seasons at Colorado College, as the Celts will face the Tigers on Friday and the Gents on Sunday. Centenary is 3-4 on the road this season.
The top six teams in the conference standings after the conclusion of the regular season will play in the SCAC Championship Feb. 24-26 in San Antonio. The top two seeds receive a bye into the semifinals.
Tuesday's game figures to be any defensive battle as the Gents and Celts are currently tied for the lead in the conference in scoring defense (62.4 PPG) and are 20th nationally in all of division III in the category. The Gents are also second in the conference in field goal percentage defense, free throw %, and 3-point field goal percentage defense, third in steals, and fifth in blocked shots. The Gents are also sixth in the country in turnovers forced per game 20.41) and 14th nationally in turnover margin.
The Celts, along with their stingy defense, also rank highly among multiple offensive categories in the conference. They are third in scoring offense (73.2 PPG), first in FG % and scoring margin, first in 3-point FG %, second in steals, and fourth in assists. The Celts are just behind the Gents in TO margin and are the league leader in assist/TO ratio. Both teams are in the top four in the SCAC in 3-point FG's made and the Celts lead the way in 3-point FG %.
Centenary returns to action after taking a break from conference play last week as the Maroon and White recorded a resounding 95-59 win over the John Melvin University Millers at home on Thursday night, improving to 12-2 at the Gold Dome this season. Senior F Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) is just five points away from joining the 1,000-point club. Thomas, who joined the 500-rebound club on Jan. 29 against Texas Lutheran, is set to become just the 19th player in program history to score 1,000 points and grab 500 rebounds in a career. Thirty-five players have scored 1,000+ points in their Gents' careers and 27 have reached 500+ rebounds in 96 years of Centenary basketball.
The Gents have held 19 of their 23 opponents this season to 70 points or less, 60 or less 10 times, and to 55 or less nine times. The Maroon and White have been especially good lately on defense as they have held four of their last five opponents to 52 points or less and are allowing an average of just 51.6/game.
Centenary has now won at least 17 games in a season twice under head coach Chris Dorsey, and 14 or more four times, and are just one win away from matching the division III era (2012-present) single-season record of 18, previously set in the 2019-20 season under Dorsey and in 2013-14. Centenary has won 10 or more SCAC regular-season games five times in the D3 era and three times under Dorsey.
Thomas enters Tuesday's game second in the SCAC in scoring (16.1 PPG) and fourth in rebounding (7.5 RPG). He is also fourth in FG % and both defensive and offensive rebounds, seventh in FT % and steals, 10th in assists, tied for 12th in blocked shots, and second in minutes played. He has reached double figures in 17 of his last 18 games and 21 times this season with six double-doubles.
Junior G Braeden Board (Rayne, La.) and senior G Tykeem Singleton (Fort Worth, Texas) form one of the conference's top trios along with Thomas as each rank in the top 20 in the league in rebounding, and top 30 in scoring. Board is also fifth in FT % and tied for 13th in steals while Singleton ranks 15th in FG %.
Board averages 8.2 PPG and 4.7 RPG and has reached double figures eight times this season while Singleton, who averages 9.0 PPG and 4.9 RPG, has now scored in double figures 12 times this season and scored a game-high 22 points against John Melvin last week.
Junior G Jerrick Baines (Alexandria, La.) is 10th in the SCAC in 3-point FG's made and averages 7.6 PPG with seven double-digit scoring performances. Senior G Jalen Behr (Athens, Ga.) is averaging 6.8 PPG and is one of the league's top 3-point shooters as he ranks 14th in the league in 3-point FG's made. He has hit 12 treys over the last five games and made at least two in a game 10 times this season. Behr had 19 points and eight rebounds in the John Melvin win and was 4-10 from beyond the arc.
Senior G Ralph Johnson (White Castle, La.) has scored in double figures three times this season and started four games in a row. Senior G Kile Mingo (Cypress, Texas) averages 5.4 PPG and has reached double figures four times this season. He has 176 treys in his career, the seventh-most in program history.
Calvin Williams IV leads the Celts in scoring this season (15.3 PPG) and Freddie Ricks III averages 10.6. Nick Anderson averages 9.5, Zac Golaszewski averages 9.0 and Calen Anderson is next at 8.1 PPG. Calen Anderson is the Celt's leading rebounding at 6.0/game.
See the Gents' complete season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mbkb/2022-23/schedule
Admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic contests. Live stats and live video stream are available for all Centenary home contests.
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