Kerrville, Texas - The Centenary men's basketball team built a sizable first-half lead against Schreiner University on Friday evening in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference contest before the Mountaineers rallied after halftime to record a 75-71 comeback victory over the Gents inside Stephens Family Arena.
The Gents (9-7, 4-3 SCAC) had their season-high four-game winning streak snapped as the Mountaineers ended their three-game losing streak and improved to 10-6 and 5-2 in SCAC play. Centenary and Schreiner entered the game tied for third in the conference standings. The Gents fell to 3-7 on the road this season while the Mountaineers upped their home record to 4-1.
The Mountaineers played their third-straight close game after losing a pair of games in a row each by one point – 82-81 at Trinity on Jan. 2 and 77-76 at Colorado College on Sunday. Centenary will face the Trinity University Tigers (15-1, 6-1 SCAC) on Saturday at 4 p.m. Trinity lost for the first time this season on Friday night, 66-65, at home to the University of St. Thomas (14-2, 6-1 SCAC).
The Gents held a 39-30 halftime lead after an impressive first half in which they led by as many as 17 points after racing out to a 10-2 lead just four minutes into the game. The Mountaineers, though, outscored the Gents 45-32 after halftime to secure the key victory on their home court.
Centenary shot 39.7 % (27-68) from the floor, 28.1 % (9-32) from beyond the arc, and 61.5 % (8-13) from the free throw line. Schreiner finished at 41.8 % (28-67) overall, 36.0 % (9-25) from 3-point range, and 66.7 % (10-15) from the FT line. Schreiner won the rebounding battle 50-37 and forced 15 Gents' turnovers, leading to 16 points. The Mountaineers turned the ball over 19 times which led to 19 points for the Gents. Schreiner won the battle of points in the paint, 36-24 and scored 15 second-chance points to Centenary's 12. The Gents finished with a 9-4 edge in fast break points and their bench outscored the Schreiner reserves, 25-10.
Junior G Craig Collier (North Little Rock, Ark.) led the Gents with 15 points and senior G AJ Hall (Thibodaux, La.) and senior F Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) each scored 14. Junior G Dylan Mackey scored a game-high 20 points to lead Schreiner and was joined in double figures by junior G Beau Cervantes (16 points), junior G Jalen Ned (14), and junior C Kamden Ross (13). Four other Mountaineers combined to score 12 points.
Sophomore G Quentin Beverly (Katy, Texas) scored seven points for the Gents, senior G Tykeem Singleton (Fort Worth, Texas) scored six, senior G Jalen Behr (Athens, Ga.) and junior F Jakobi Greenleaf (Houston, Texas) each scored five, freshman F Khristian Wilkerson (Killeen, Texas) added three, and senior G Braeden Board (Rayne, La.) had two.
Ross, Schreiner's leading scorer and the SCAC's leading rebounder this season, recorded an impressive double-double with a game-high 23 rebounds. He was 6-13 from the floor and 2-2 at the FT line with a steal and played all 40 minutes. Mackey was 8-19 from the floor, 3-7 from beyond the arc, and 1-3 at the FT line in his 36 minutes with six rebounds, five assists, and three steals. Cervantes played 33 minutes and was 5-12 overall, 3-9 from beyond the arc, and 3-4 from the FT line with four assists, two rebounds, and one steal. Ned was 4-5 overall, 1-2 from beyond the arc, and 5-6 from the FT line in 27 minutes with seven boards, an assist, and a steal.
Collier reached double figures for the sixth time this season as he finished 7-14 from the floor in 34 minutes with a trey, six assists, four steals, and four rebounds as his number of assists and steals were both season highs. Hall came off the bench and played 20 minutes as he was 5-9 from the floor, 3-6 from beyond the arc, and 1-2 at the FT line with two rebounds and a blocked shot. He has reached double figures five times this season and has done so four times in his last five games.
Thomas continued his superb season by reaching double digits for the 15th time this season and grabbed nine rebounds as he just missed tallying his fifth double-double. The SCAC's leading scorer entering the game averaging 18.7 PPG, finished 4-15 from the floor with a trey but was a perfect 5-5 at the FT line in 37 minutes with three assists and a pair of steals. Thomas, a favorite for conference Player of the Year, has been named the SCAC Men's Basketball Player of the Week twice this season, and entered the night third in the league in both rebounds per game and assists/game.
The Gents finished with 18 assists, their second-highest total in a game this season after tallying 22 in in their season-opening win over Texas College. Centenary has recorded 10+ assists in game 11 times this season. They added eight steals and two blocked shots while the Mountaineers finished the game with 16 assists and six steals but did not block a shot.
Centenary was hot offensively in the first half, making 15 of 33 attempts for 45.5 % while Schreiner struggled, making just 11 of 35 for 41.4 % and committing 10 turnovers. The Gents then shot 34.3 % (12-35) in the second half while the Mountaineers were a red-hot 53.1 % (17-32) in a tale of two halves. Schreiner was 5-10 from beyond the arc for 50 % after halftime and sank 6 of 9 free throw attempts. The Mountaineers also outrebounded the Gents 26-16 and limited themselves to eight turnovers while the Gents went 4-6 at the FT line but struggled from 3-point range (4-16 for 25 %).
Centenary and Schreiner entered the game as well-balanced teams, ranking in the top five in the conference in a variety of team statistical categories. The Mountaineers and Gents were picked to finish fourth and fifth respectively in the conference's preseason poll. Schreiner came into Friday's action as the league's top scoring team (83.3 PPG) and ranked 40th in the country in division III, but had trouble offensively against the Gents' stingy defense until catching fire in the second half but still fell nearly 10 points below its season average. The Gents were averaging 75.6 PPG, fifth in the SCAC, and nearly hit their season mark.
The Gents held several decisive leads in the first half – 14-4 at the 15:58 mark after a trey by Thomas, and 23-6 with 7:49 remaining following a Hall jumper. Centenary actually held Schreiner scoreless for nearly nine minutes in the half, as a jumper by Ross made it 14-6 with 15:46 remaining and then the Mountaineers did not score again until a trey by Russell Bradley made it 23-9 with 6:58 left before halftime. But, from that point on the Mountaineers would outscore the Gents 21-16 to cut their deficit to single digits at halftime.
Schreiner started the second half on a 5-0 run to get within four points and a dunk by Mackey brought the Mountaineers within a point at 43-42 with 14:15 left, but the Gents responded with four points in a row to take a 47-42 lead. Schreiner finally tied the game at 49-49 on a layup by Ross at the 10:36 mark. Cervantes nailed a 3-pointer just 21 seconds later to give Schreiner its first lead of the game.
Cervantes struck again just a few seconds later with another trey for a 55-49 lead. A layup by Ross made it 62-55 Schreiner with just under seven minutes left, but a 3-pointer by Hall got the Gents within four points at 64-60 with 5:59 remaining. Thomas' layup at the 1:29 mark made it 73-70 and Ross fouled him and he sank the FT to complete the three-point play and make it 73-71. Then, the backbreaking play of the game was delivered by Mackey as he drained a jumper with just two seconds on the shot clock to make it 75-71. Centenary then missed its final four shots that it attempted in the final minute as the Mountaineers held on for the comeback win.
Schreiner is just the second team in seven games to score more than 70 points against the Gents after Colorado College scored 71 points against them in the Gold Dome on Dec. 31. Centenary has held eight opponents to 70 points or less this season and has held 31 of its last 43 opponents to 70 points or less dating back to last season. The Mountaineers and Gents will face each other in Shreveport on Friday, Feb. 16 at 5:30 p.m.
Current SCAC Standings:
T1 Trinity 15-1, 6-1 SCAC
T1 St. Thomas 14-2, 6-1 SCAC
3 Schreiner 10-6, 5-2 SCAC
4 Centenary 9-7, 4-3 SCAC
5 Colorado College 7-7, 3-4 SCAC
6 Dallas 6-9, 3-4 SCAC
7 Austin College 7-9, 3-5 SCAC
8 Texas Lutheran 3-13, 2-5 SCAC
9 Southwestern 1-15, 0-7 SCAC
See the complete Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mbkb/2023-24/schedule
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