Gents Fall In 78-75 Heartbreaker To Arlington Baptist To Open Season
The Centenary men's basketball team fell in its season opener 78-75 in a heartbreaker to the Arlington Baptist University Patriots in a non-conference contest on Friday night inside the Gold Dome.
| Final | 1 | 2 | T |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Arlington Baptist
|
39 | 39 | 78 |
|
Centenary (La.)
|
44 | 31 | 75 |
Shreveport – The Centenary men's basketball team fell in its season opener 78-75 in a heartbreaker to the Arlington Baptist University Patriots in a non-conference contest on Friday night inside the Gold Dome.
The Gents (0-1) led 44-39 at halftime but the Patriots (1-1) outscored them in the second half, 39-31, to record the comeback victory. Centenary, who still leads the all-time series 3-1, lost for just the sixth time on their home court in their last 28 games.
Senior G Craig Collier (North Little Rock, Ark.) scored a game-high 21 points to lead the Gents and senior F Jakobi Greenleaf (Houston, Texas) joined him in double figured as he scored 15. The Patriots had four players score in double figures led by 17 from Gary Gray.
Centenary shot 37.3 % (22-59) for the game from the field, 69.7 % (23-33) from the free-throw line, and made just 8-28 from 3-point range for 28.6 %. Arlington Baptist finished 25-62 from the field for 40.3 % and went 27-39 from the FT line for 69.2 %. The Patriots made just one 3-pointer in the game in nine attempts for 11.1 %. The Patriots outrebounded the Gents 49-34, grabbing 32 on the defensive end and 17 offensive boards. Centenary finished with 24 defensive rebounds and 10 offensive boards.
The Gents finished with nine steals, six blocked shots, and three assists and turned the ball over 12 times. The Patriots had nine assists, six steals, four blocked shots, and turned it over 17 times. ABU outscored Centenary in the paint 36-24 and each team scored 12 second-chance points. The Patriots finished with a 15-12 edge in fast break points and each team scored 14 points off of turnovers. The Gents received 19 points from their bench and the Patriots' reserves scored 10.
The Patriots shot 35.1 % (13-37) from the floor in the first half and were 13-18 from the FT line for 72.2 % but did not make a 3-pointer in four attempts. The visitors heated up from the field in the second half, connecting on 12-25 attempts for 48 % and made 14-21 at the FT line. The Gents shot 14-33 from the floor in the first half for 42.4 %, 9-14 at the FT line, and made 7-18 from beyond the arc for 38.9 %. Centenary, though, struggled after halftime as the Maroon and White made just eight baskets in 26 attempts for 30.8 % and connected on only one trey in 10 attempts while finishing 14-19 at the FT line.
Allen made the Patriots' only trey of the game at the 7:13 mark of the second half to bring ABU within three points at 65-62. Webster completed a three-point play with 3:26 remaining in the game to give the Patriots a 72-71 lead and after a pair of FT's by Greenleaf tied the score at 73-73 at the 2:35 mark, Webster sank a jumper to give ABU a 75-73 lead with 1:24 left in the game. Two more FT's by Greenleaf tied the game at 75-75 with 1:03 on the clock but Gray was fouled attempting a 3-pointer with 33 seconds left and made two of three shots to make it 77-75 ABU.
Kanu grabbed the rebound after Gray's miss and then missed a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left and Murray made 1-2 FT's on the other end to make it 78-75. Collier missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer as the Patriots escaped with the narrow win.
Collier was 7-21 from the floor in 37 minutes. He was 4-12 from beyond the arc, 3-3 at the FT line, and had three rebounds, three steals, and two assists. Collier has now reached double figures 12 times in his career and topped 20 points three times. Greenleaf played 29 minutes and was 3-4 from the floor and 9-16 at the FT line with eight rebounds, three steals, and two blocked shots. Freshman G Sirwilliam McDuffie (Houston, Texas) started and played 33 minutes, scoring eight points and grabbing one rebound. The rookie was 3-12 from the floor and 2-7 from beyond the arc. Freshman G Nicholas Addison (Cedar Hill, Texas) scored eight in 15 minutes off the bench with three rebounds, two steals, and a blocked shot. He was 3-3 from the floor and 2-4 at the FT line.
Senior G Jalen Ned (New Orleans, La.) scored six in 14 minutes as he was a perfect 6-6 at the FT line with one rebound. Sophomore G Andre Kanu (Duncanville, Texas) scored six points in 23 minutes with eight rebounds and blocked one shot and sophomore F Khristian Wilkerson (Killeen, Texas) scored six and grabbed five boards with a blocked shot in 17 minutes off the bench. Freshman G Trenton Thomas (Cedar Hill, Texas) scored five with a blocked shot and an assist in 27 minutes as he was 2-6 from the floor and was 1-4 from beyond the arc. Freshman G Allen Paul (Katy, Texas) was held scoreless in five minutes but grabbed two boards and had one steal.
Gary added a game-high 13 rebounds to his team-high 17 points for a double-double. He played 28 minutes and was 5-11 from the floor and 7-9 from the FT line with two steals, an assist, and a blocked shot. J'son Murray scored 16 on 6-8 shooting with eight rebounds and two assists with a blocked shot and a steal in 29 minutes and made 4-6 from the FT line.
Ahmad Webster scored 15 in 32 minutes on 6-15 shooting with a pair of assists and a steal as he was 3-3 at the FT line. Davione Allen scored 11 in 26 minutes with three rebounds, an assist, and a blocked shot as he finished 2-6 from the floor, 1-3 from beyond the arc, and 6-7 at the FT line. Isaiah Melvo added nine points in 32 minutes on 3-6 shooting with seven rebounds, three assists, and a blocked shot and was 3-5 at the FT line. ABU's bench chipped in 10 points and 14 rebounds.
The Patriots started fast and led 8-0 three minutes into the game and the Gents did not score until Greenleaf made a FT at the 16:42 mark to make it 8-1. Thomas made a trey at the 11:23 mark to finally get the Gents into double digits and cut the ABU lead to 16-11. The Patriots extended their lead, though, to 25-15 with 8:20 left in the half but the Gents finished the half on a 29-14 run to take their five-point lead at halftime.
Greenleaf's layup put the Gents ahead 50-40 at the 18:15 mark of the second half, but the Patriots went on a 25-15 run over the next 12+ minutes and finally tied the game at 65-65 with 6:27 left before edging the Gents 13-10 over the final few minutes of the game to seal the win.
The Gents will face the Louisiana Christian University Wildcats on Monday in another non-conference contest at home.
See the complete Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mbkb/2024-25/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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Team Stats
Arlington Baptist
| Game Statistics | Arlington Baptist | Centenary (La.) |
|---|---|---|
| Field Goals | (25-62) | (22-59) |
| Field Goal % | 40.3% | 37.3% |
| Rebounds | 49 | 34 |
| Assists | 9 | 3 |
| Turnovers | 17 | 12 |
| Pts off Turnovers | 14 | 14 |
| 2nd Chance Pts | 12 | 12 |
| Pts in the Paint | 36 | 24 |
| Fastbreak Pts | 15 | 12 |
| Bench Pts | 10 | 19 |
