The Gents are home this weekend to face Southwestern and TLU in conference play.

January 16, 2025

Gents Back On Home Court This Weekend In SCAC Play

The Centenary men's basketball team completes a four-game home stand this weekend as the Gents will play a pair of Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference games beginning on Friday with a matchup versus the Southwestern University Pirates set for 7:30 p.m. inside the Gold Dome.

Southwestern (Tex.)

1-13, 1-4

Centenary (La.)

6-8, 4-1

Final

Southwestern (Tex.) 1-13, 1-4

Centenary (La.) 6-8, 4-1

Shreveport - The Centenary men's basketball team completes a four-game home stand this weekend as the Gents will play a pair of Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference games beginning on Friday with a matchup versus the Southwestern University Pirates set for 7:30 p.m. inside the Gold Dome.

Live stats and live video are available for the game at the links below:

STATS: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mbkb/2024-25/boxscores/20250117_8cdd.xml

VIDEO: https://www.ktalnews.com/gocentenary/watch-live-centenary-college-sports-2024-2025/

The Gents (5-8, 3-1 SCAC) won for the fourth time in their last five games on Tuesday night as the Gents defeated the Austin College 'Roos by a score of 81-73 which followed a 92-65 victory over the University of Dallas Crusaders on Sunday afternoon. The Pirates (1-12, 1-3 SCAC) have lost two games in a row overall and are 0-2 on the road this season. Southwestern lost a pair of league games at home last weekend, to Colorado College and the University of St. Thomas.

The Gents, who will face Texas Lutheran University on Sunday at 2 p.m. are 4-5 at home this season and are 26-10 over their last 36 games at the Gold Dome and are now 47-16 in the Gold Dome since the beginning of the 2019-20 season. Centenary has won nine in a row over Southwestern which included a pair of comfortable victories last season – 85-64 and 75-58.

The Gents were picked to finish fourth in the conference preseason poll while the Pirates were picked 11^th. The conference is separated into two divisions this season – the Blue and the Gold. Centenary is currently second in the Blue Division, behind only St. Thomas, while Southwestern is tied for fourth in the Gold division.

The top six teams in the conference will qualify for the SCAC Men's Basketball Tournament, which will be held February 28 through March 2 and hosted by the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas. The winner of that event will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Gents are averaging 71.8 PPG, shooting 40.0 % from the floor, 28.9 % from beyond the arc, 75.4 % from the free-throw line, and average 30.5 rebounds/game. Centenary also averages 9.8 assists per game, 10.0 steals/game and 2.2 blocks/game. The Gents have tallied 10+ assists in a game eight times, double-digit steals six times, and three or more blocks eight times.

Centenary is the top free-throw shooting team in the conference and ranks 34^th nationally in division III and its 10.0 steals per game is also top-35 nationally.

Gents' Season Individual Statistical Leaders:

Scoring: Senior G Craig Collier (North Little Rock, Ark.) – 16.8/game

(Junior G Quentin Beverly (Katy, Texas) – 21.3 PPG)

* Beverly has only played in seven games due to injury

Rebounding: Senior F Jakobi Greenleaf (Houston, Texas) – 6.8 RPG

Assists: Collier – 2.6/game

Blocks: Greenleaf – 1.2/game

Steals: Greenleaf – 1.8/game

Senior G Jalen Ned (New Orleans, La.) is averaging 11.0 PPG, fourth on the team, and Greenleaf (11.6 PPG) is third. Freshman G Nicholas Addison (Cedar Hill, Texas) averages 5.7 PPG, 4.5 rebounds/game, 1.2 assists/game and is shooting 44.4 % from the floor with three double-digit scoring performances.

Beverly missed the first six games of the season with an injury and thus has not played enough to rank among the league's top scorers, but has come back stronger than ever and scored a career-high 32 points against LeTourneau on Jan. 7 at home. He played 35 minutes and finished 10-19 from the floor, 5-10 from beyond the arc, and 7-8 from the FT line with a steal.

Beverly hit five treys in a game for the second time this season and scored 30 points for the second time in his career after scoring 30 against the University of Dallas last season at home. Beverly has scored in double figures in six of his seven games and scored 25 against Dallas and 22 against Austin College. He is shooting 89.2 % from the FT line and 38.1 % from the floor.

Greenleaf has been locked in lately as he has scored 20+ points three times in his last six games and reached double figures in five of them. He scored a season-high 23 against Dallas last weekend and followed that with 22 on Tuesday against Austin College.

Greenleaf, who has eight double-digit scoring performances this season, is shooting a team-best 58.1 % from the floor and ranks in the top 10 in the conference. He is also ranked in the top 10 in the league in rebounding and minutes played, top 30 in scoring, and top five in both blocked shots and steals.

Collier is in the midst of a stellar senior season as he leads the team in scoring and ranks in the top 10 in the conference. He has reached double figures a team-high nine times and has done so in five straight games while scoring 20+ points seven times this season.

He is averaging 23.4 PPG over his last five games and for the season he is shooting 40.6 % from the floor, 38.4 % from beyond the arc, and a superb 92.2 % from the FT line. Collier is the top FT shooter in the conference and ranks 19^th nationally in division III as he is an impressive 47-51 at the line and has a chance to set a new season record for best FT % in a single season in program history currently held by Wayne Waggoner (.918, 56-61) in the 1978-79 season. Collier is ranked in the top 10 in the league in 3-point FG's made and top 15 in assists.

Ned has scored in double figures seven times and three times so far in conference play. He is shooting 42.9 % from the field, 31.9 % from 3-pint range, and 72.2 % from the FT line. Ned, who averages 4.2 rebounds per game, is a top-30 scorer in the conference, and has a pair of 20-point performances this season. Addison ranks in the top five in the conference in steals and top 10 in blocked shots.

A Peek at the Pirates:

The head coach of the Pirates in his sixth season, is Connor Kuykendall

14 players from the Southwestern roster are from the state of Texas

The Pirates' lone win this season came over TLU on Jan. 4 at home by a score of 66-52

Senior F Brock Luechtefeld is the Pirates leading scorer (12.5 PPG) and rebounder (7.3/game) this season

The Gents will begin a four-game road trip on Friday, Jan. 24 at Colorado College followed by games at the University of St. Thomas (Jan. 26), Schreiner University (Jan. 31), and finally Trinity University on Saturday, Feb. 1.

Centenary then plays four-consecutive games at home next month – Feb. 7 versus Concordia University, Feb. 9 versus McMurry University, Feb. 14 versus Colorado College, and finally on Sunday, Feb. 16 (Senior Day) versus St. Thomas. The final weekend of the regular season has the Gents playing Austin College on Feb. 21 and Dallas on Feb. 22.

See the complete Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mbkb/2024-25/schedule

Admission is FREE to all Centenary men's basketball home contests. Live stats and live video stream are available for all Centenary home contests.

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