Shreveport- The Centenary men's basketball team lost 79-61 on Sunday afternoon to the Trinity University Tigers in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference contest and the regular-season finale for both teams inside the Gold Dome.
The Gents (14-11, 9-7 SCAC) lost their second-straight game after falling to Schreiner University on Friday night by a score of 84-78, a loss that snapped a season-high five-game winning streak. Trinity improved to 23-2, 14-2 SCAC and swept the season series over the Gents following an 87-77 win in San Antonio last month.
Centenary finished the regular season 8-3 on its home court and despite the two losses this weekend, has won nine of its last 14 games. The Gents are also 19-5 in their last 24 home games and have won 43 of their last 53 at the Gold Dome.
The Gents clinched a berth into next weekend's conference championship with their win at Southwestern on Feb. 10 and will be the No. 3 seed. Trinity (No. 1) and St. Thomas (No. 2) clinched the top two seeds and will receive byes and not play until Saturday's semifinals.
Colorado College, the University of Dallas, and Schreiner all tied for fourth place with identical 8-8 conference records and head to head results determined the seeding. Colorado College earned the No. 4 seed, Dallas the No. 5, and Schreiner the No. 6. Centenary and Schreiner will meet in the second quarterfinal game on Friday at 2 p.m. as the teams will battle for the second time in a week. No. 4 seed Colorado College faced No. 5 seed Dallas in the opener of the championship on Friday at Noon.
The Gents shot just 36.8 % (21-57) from the floor, 26.9 % (7-26) from beyond the arc, and 60 % (12-20) from the free throw line. The Tigers shot 40 % from both the floor (28-70) and 3-point range (14-35) and finished 9-13 from the FT line for 69.2 %. The Tigers edged the Gents, 43-39, in the rebounding battle and forced 13 Centenary turnovers while only committing eight of their own. Each team scored 26 points in the paint and Centenary edged Trinity in fast break points, but the Tigers finished with an advantage in points off of turnovers (15-12), second-chance points (22-4), and bench points (17-9).
Senior F Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) led the Gents with 14 points and sophomore G Quentin Beverly (Katy, Texas) was right behind him with 13 but they were the only two Gents to reach double figures. Thomas reached double figures for the 21st time this season while Beverly did so for the 10th time. Senior G Jalen Behr (Athens, Ga.) scored nine and junior F Jakobi Greenleaf (Houston, Texas) and junior G Craig Collier (North Little Rock, Ark.) each scored eight. Senior G AJ Hall (Thibodaux, La.), freshman G Gerald Murage (Irving, Texas) and senior G Tykeem Singleton (Fort Worth, Texas) combined to score nine points. Senior G Braeden Board (Rayne, La.), and senior G Coby Harris (Lafayette, La.) each played but neither scored.
Thomas played 27 minutes and was 6-12 from the floor and 2-2 at the FT line with eight rebounds. Beverly played 31 minutes and was 4-10 overall, 3-8 from beyond the arc, and 2-5 from the FT line with an assist and a rebound. Behr was 3-9 overall, 1-5 from beyond the arc and 2-4 at the FT line in 30 minutes with five boards, an assist and a steal. Greenleaf was 3-9 from the floor and 2-5 from the FT line in his 32 minutes with five rebounds, two blocked shots, and an assist.
Collier played 15 minutes and was 3-9 from the floor and 2-5 from deep with a rebound and a steal, Hall was 1-4 overall and 1-3 from beyond the arc in 14 minutes with six rebounds, a blocked shot, and a steal and Murage played 23 minutes and was 2-2 at the FT line with two rebounds, an assist, and a steal, and Singleton was 1-3 from the floor and 2-2 at the FT line in 18 minutes with four rebounds and a pair of assists.
The Tigers also had a pair of players reach double figures as Jacob Harvey led all scorers with 32 points and Tanner Brown had 18. Christian Green and Dean Balo each scored nine, and four other Tigers combined for 11 points. Braxton Barry and Zach Fenn were each held scoreless but together they chipped in 11 rebounds, three assists, three steals, and two blocked shots. Harvey and Brown were a two-man wrecking crew for the Tigers on Sunday as they combined for 50 of the Tigers' 79 points and Harvey was 9-15 from beyond the arc and 5-6 at the FT line.
Trinity led 40-33 at halftime despite Centenary shooting the ball well (11-26 for 42.3 % from the floor) and 6-12 from beyond the arc for 50 %. The Tigers, though, were also efficient on offense in the first 20 minutes as they were 14-36 for 28.9 % overall, hit seven treys, and went 5-6 at the FT line. Trinity outscored Centenary 39-28 in the second half as the Tigers shot 41.2 % from the floor and hit seven more treys. The Gents, however, went ice cold on offense after the break as they made just 10-31 attempts from the floor for 32.3 % and hit just one of 14 attempts from beyond the arc for 7.1 %. Centenary also finished 7-11 from the FT line in the second half
Trinity started hot on offense and got off to a 5-0 start and led 15-5 on a trey by Brown at the 15:03 mark. The Gents, though, went on a 14-7 run to cut their deficit to 22-19 at the 8:53 mark. Trinity would score the next seven points to stretch its lead to 29-19 with 6:15 remaining before the half. Behr nailed a trey to get the Gents with two at 32-30 with 2:58 remaining, but the Tigers closed on an 8-3 run to end the half.
Trinity led by double-digits for the majority of the first eight minutes of the second half until a Gents' run capped by a Thomas layup at the 12:08 mark got them with just three at 48-45. A 20-9 run, though, gave the Tigers some distance as they took a 68-54 lead with just 3:22 left in the game. Harvey nailed a trey to give the Tigers a 20-point lead (75-55) with 1:28 left and they then finished off the Gents for their 18-point win.
Final Regular Season SCAC Standings:
1 Trinity 23-2, 14-2 SCAC
2 St. Thomas 20-5, 12-4 SCAC
3 Centenary 14-11, 9-7 SCAC
T4 Colorado College 14-11, 8-8 SCAC
T4 Dallas 12-13, 8-8 SCAC
T4 Schreiner 13-12, 8-8 SCAC
7 Austin College 12-13, 7-9
8 Texas Lutheran 6-19, 5-11 SCAC
9 Southwestern 2-23, 1-15 SCAC
See the official 2024 SCAC M/W Basketball Championship Page Here: https://www.scacsports.com/tournament/winter/basketball/24championships/index
See the complete Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mbkb/2023-24/schedule
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