JACKSON, Miss. – Anything the Warriors could do, junior Travion Kirkendoll can do better.
After a contested three tied the game with three seconds left, senior James Sapp took the inbounds and hit Kirkendoll about 35 feet from the hoop for the buzzer beater as Centenary (1-1) rallied from 14 down to claim the 79-76 win against Hendrix (0-2) in the Southern Athletic Association-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Classic Saturday night, November 19.
Centenary led 74-40 and was fouled with 38 seconds left when sophomore Treylan Matthews missed the front end of a one-and-one. Hendrix's Travis Garrett cut down the lead to one on a three, but Matthews redeemed himself with a pair of free throws with 14 seconds left. Hendrix raced down the court, and a closely contested three by the Warrior's Preston Smith tied the game with three seconds left.
After a Gents timeout, junior KJ Boyd inbounded to Sapp. Sapp hit Kirkendoll right in front of the Gents bench, and launched a three that went in as the buzzer sounded to give Centenary the victory.
Kirkendoll narrowly missed the double-double with 13 points and nine boards. Sapp had a breakout game with 28 points and 14 rebounds, while freshman Cedric Harris recorded his first career double-double with 14 points and 10 boards.
Centenary trailed by as much as 14 in the first half and 40-28 at intermission, but the Gents ratcheted up the pressure. In less than 1:30 into the second half, the Gents trailed by a single possession. Sapp hit a layup on a pass from junior Dyllon Weaver out of break, before Sapp forced a steal. He threw ahead to Matthews, who made the fastbreak layup to cut the deficit to single digits. Sapp forced another steal, and ran in for the dunk. Matthews capped the nine unanswered for Centenary with a fastbreak triple.
Sapp recorded a game-best three steals.
Hendrix led 45-42 when Kirkendoll made a fastbreak layup. After a stop, Weaver hit a three to give Centenary its first lead of the game with 15:00 left in the game.
Weaver went 3-for-6 from three with nine points in the game.
Centenary led 67-61 with 5:20 left, but Hendrix countered with six unanswered to tie the game. Jacob Link made a pair from the line and a layup, while two free throws by Travis Garrett tied the game with 4:14 left.
Link led Hendrix by scoring 20 off the bench, while Garett added 15. Smith came off the bench for 14. Centenary took advantage of its size with a 38-27 edge in rebounds and 23-12 advantage in second-chance points.
Centenary closes out the weekend when it takes on host Millsaps in the final game of the SAA-SCAC Classic Sunday, November 20, at 5 p.m.