San Antonio, Texas – The Centenary men's basketball team takes the court on Friday evening as the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament champions face nationally-ranked Nebraska Wesleyan University in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship at 5:05 p.m. at Calgaard Gym inside the Bell Center on the campus of Trinity University.
Live stats and live video are available for the game at the links below:
Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=522414
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2J_aRwSL8o
Link to Digital Official Souvenir Program: https://www.ncaa.com/DIIIMensBasketball
The Gents (17-11) won three games in three days on their home court last weekend to capture the SCAC Tournament title while the Prairie Wolves (23-4) won the American Rivers Conference regular-season crown but fell in overtime to Loras College in the conference tournament. Centenary is making its second appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first since 2020 when the Gents lost a heartbreaker to UT-Dallas in Richardson, Texas by a score of 83-81.
Nebraska Wesleyan, located in Lincoln, Neb., is currently ranked #19 in the country in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 poll and is making its 18th NCAA Division III Tournament appearance. The Prairie Wolves have made five NCAA D3 Final Four appearances, winning the 2018 NCAA III National Championship and finishing as the runner-up in 1997. Friday marks the first meeting between Centenary and Nebraska Wesleyan and will also be the first time in history the SCAC and ARC have squared off in the NCAA Tournament.
Trinity University (23-3) faces the University of Texas at Dallas (18-9) in game two at approximately 7:35 p.m. The winners of Friday's games will meet at 7:35 p.m. on Saturday.
The bracket features 64 teams and Automatic qualification (AQ) is granted to 42 conference champions, which form "Pool A." The remaining 22 teams are selected from those teams in conferences with automatic bids that did not win their conference's AQ and the remaining Pool B institutions (Pool C). The teams are geographically paired, whenever possible.
Sixteen sites will host four teams for first- and second-round competition Friday-Saturday, March 1-2. Second-round winners will advance to one of four sectional sites March 8-9. Winners of the four sectional championship games will advance to the semi-finals and finals March 14 and 16. All games, except the semi-finals and finals, will be played on the campuses of competing institutions. The semi-finals and finals will be held at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The Gents are led by seventh-year head Chris Dorsey, who won his 100th game as Centenary head coach on Feb. 23 against Schreiner. He is now 102-71 in six+ seasons in Shreveport.
"Playing in the NCAA Tournament is an exciting experience, said Dorsey. Everything is turned up to another level. The practices, the shootaround, the game intensity is such an amazing feeling. Now to be there twice in five years, we've grown into a Championship-level program. I'm thankful our guys get to experience this opportunity."
"Nebraska Wesleyan is a very good offensive team," said Dorsey. They are a D3 powerhouse as they won a National Championship in 2018. It's going to be a tough game for us. But our guys are excited for the challenge."
Centenary, hosting the SCAC Championship for the first time since 2016, was fueled by a frenzied crowd three days in a row last weekend as the Maroon and White defeated Schreiner University in the quarterfinals by a score of 76-75, the University of St. Thomas in the semifinals (64-51), and defeated Colorado College in the title game by a score of 83-76.
The Gents, as a team, average 75.1 PPG, shoot 42.2 % from the floor, 33.1 % from beyond the arc, 70.5 % from the FT line, average 34.1 rebounds per game, and 11.4 assists/game. Centenary is once again a well-rounded team as the Maroon and White find themselves ranked nationally in multiple statistical categories on both sides of the ball:
Ranked 18th in Turnover Margin (4.4)
Ranked 28th in Turnovers Forced Per Game (16.71) and have forced 468 total this season.
Tied for 67th in 3-point baskets made per game (8.7) with 244 made this season.
Ranked 74th in Field-Goal Percentage Defense (40.9 %)
Ranked 88th in Steals Per Game (8.4)
Centenary has held 14 opponents to 70 points or less this season and nine to 65 points or less.
Centenary has finished .500 or better in all six previous seasons under Dorsey and will do so for a seventh year in a row no matter what happens this weekend.
The Gents have made three trips to the SCAC championship game along with four semifinal appearances in Dorsey's tenure. The Gents were picked to finish fifth in the SCAC preseason poll and finished third as they made their 11th-straight appearance in the SCAC Tournament.
Centenary enters the NCAA Tournament having won eight of its last 10 overall.
The Gents finished 11-3 on their home court this season counting the regular season and conference tournament and are now 22-5 in their last 27 home games and have won 46 of 53 overall.
Senior F Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) has been the Gents' leader on both sides of the ball all season and earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team last weekend. Thomas posted another stellar season for the Gents as he cemented himself as one of the top players in D3 program history and was one of the top all-around players in the conference.
Thomas was named First-team All-SCAC, earning all-conference honors for the fourth-straight season and landed on the First Team for the second time. He averaged 15.7 PPG and 5.7 rebounds last weekend and added 10 steals, seven assists, and six blocked shots. He started all 28 of Centenary's games this season and averaged 16.2 PPG, 7.9 rebounds per game, 3.2 assists/game, 2.4 steals/game, and 0.8 blocks/game. He ranked fifth in the SCAC in scoring, third in rebounding, and second in assists in the regular season. He reached double figures a staggering 23 times (21 times in the regular season and twice in the conference tournament (and posted five double-doubles.
Thomas ranked in the top 15 in the conference during the regular season in assist to turnover ratio, minutes played, defensive rebounds, blocked shots, field goal %, steals, free throw %, and 3-point field goals made during the regular season. He shot 44.3 % from the field, 32.7 % from beyond the arc, and 78.7 % from the FT line. Thomas recorded six double-digit rebounding performances and scored 20+ points eight times highlighted by a career-high 34 points at Dallas on Dec. 2.
Thomas averaged 33.5 minutes/game and played 38 or more five times. He hit multiple 3-point baskets in game 10 times, had two+ steals 19 times, two+ assists 23 times, and two+ blocked shots six times. He made 10 or more free throws in a game six times this season with a season-high of 15 in 18 attempts on Dec. 31 versus Colorado College. Thomas was named the SCAC Men's Basketball Player of the Week twice this season.
Senior G Tykeem Singleton (Fort Worth, Texas) was named the Tournament MVP after a career-best 33 points in the title game as he was a sizzling 12-14 from the field, and perfect from both the 3-point line (5-5) and the free throw line (4-4). Trailing 41-37 just before halftime, he gave the Gents some momentum as he drained a 3-pointer from just past half court at the buzzer to make it a 41-40 game. In the three weekend games, he averaged 15.7 PPG and totaled 12 rebounds, three steals, two assists, and a blocked shot.
Sophomore G Quentin Beverly (Katy, Texas), junior G Craig Collier (North Little Rock, Ark.), junior F Jakobi Greenleaf (Houston, Texas), and senior G AJ Hall (Thibodaux, La.) joined Thomas on the All-conference team as all four earned Honorable-Mention recognition.
Hall also earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team last weekend as he scored 30 points in the three wins including 16 off the bench in the win over St. Thomas as he was 4-7 from beyond the arc and 2-2 at the free throw line with five rebounds. He also scored 11 against Schreiner and hit a pair of treys. Hall averages 9.1 PPG, shoots 49.7 % overall, 40.4 % from 3-point range, and 80.6 % from the FT line.
He has reached double figures 10 times this season and topped 20 points three times. He ranked in the top 10 in the SCAC in FG %, the top 30 in the league in scoring, and in the top 15 in both 3-point baskets made and 3-point FG %. Hall hit two more 3-point baskets in a game 10 times with a season-best five at Trinity on Jan. 13. He hit 13 treys in a four-game span from Jan. 7-19 as he was 65 % from beyond the arc in those four games.
Beverly averages 9.0 PPG and shoots 42.1 % from the floor, 37.8 % from beyond the arc, and 71.8 % from the FT line. He has reached double digits 11 times this season and done so in seven times in his last 10 games highlighted by a career-high 30 points in the Gents' blowout win at home over Dallas on Jan. 21.
Collier, in his first season with the Gents after transferring from Hendrix College, made an impact as he has played in 26 games and made 19 starts and is averaging 9.2 PPG, 2.2 rebounds per game, 1.6 assists/game and 1.0 steals/game. He scored in double figures 11 times, topped 20 points twice, and scored 13 or more eight times with a season high of 26 against Texas Lutheran at home on Jan. 5. Collier finished in the top 10 in the conference during the regular season in 3-point FG's made and in the top 15 in 3-point FG %.
Greenleaf made an immediate impact in his first season with the Gents as he has played in 28 games and made 27 starts. He averages 9.3 PPG and 5.0 rebounds per game while reaching double figures 13 times and ranked in the top 25 in the league during the regular season in both scoring and rebounding. He shoots a team-best 52.0 % from the floor which ranks in the top five in the conference. He has posted a pair of double-digit rebounding performances and had two double-doubles. He had 13 games with at least two assists and 10 games with two+ steals. Seven of his double-digit scoring performances during the regular season came in conference play.
Senior G Jalen Behr (Athens, Ga.) is one of the Gents' top players as well as he has played in 27 games with 18 starts. He averages 6.6 PPG and 3.3 rebounds per game, and 1.2 assists/game and was one of the conference's top outside shooters. Behr reached double figures six times including a career-high 18 against St. Thomas at home on Jan. 30. He finished 31.5 % from beyond the arc and made at least two treys in a game 11 times with a season-high four against St. Thomas at home.
Beverly, Singleton, and Thomas each recorded an individual game with 30 points or more and Thomas' 34 points at Dallas on Dec. 2 are the second-most scored in a game by a SCAC player this season and Singleton's 33 in the SCAC title game are tied for the fourth-most and he became just the fifth player in SCAC history to score at least 30 points in the championship game. Singleton and Thomas were each on the 2020 team that made the NCAA Tournament and combined to score seven points as Thomas started and scored two and Singleton added five off the bench.
Scouting the Opponent:
Nebraska Wesleyan averages 77.0 points per game. The Prairie Wolves shoot 46.1% from the floor with a 33.2% mark from three, 77.9% from the free throw line, and defensively, the Prairie Wolves are allowing 67.5 points per game. Junior G Peter Lash is Nebraska Wesleyan's leading scorer (17.4 PPG) and rebounder (7.7/game). The Prairie Wolves' head coach is Dale Wellman, who is in his 10th season. He has won two national coach of the year and eight conference coach of the year awards. In 2018, he coached Nebraska Wesleyan to a 30-3 overall record and its first national championship. Wellman has won five regular-season conference titles and three conference tournament titles.
FINAL WORD: "Winning a college basketball game is tough," said Dorsey. To do so in the national tournament is even harder. So, to win on Friday, on the biggest stage, would mean the world to our team. These guys continue to put their names in the Centenary Men's Basketball record books, why stop now?
Relive the Gents' SCAC title victory here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mbkb/2023-24/releases/Gents_Basketball_-_2024_SCAC_Tournament_Champs
See the complete Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mbkb/2023-24/schedule
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