Shreveport - The Centenary men's basketball team blew past Millsaps on Tuesday night in a non-conference contest by a score of 85-45 in the Gold Dome.
The Gents (5-5) won their second game in a row and evened the season series against the Majors (2-8). Millsaps defeated Centenary 75-62 in Jackson, Miss. in the previous meeting between the teams. The Maroon and White continued their stellar play at home, winning for the 38th time in their last 46 games and are 14-2 in their last 16 games in the Gold Dome. Centenary has now scored at least 85 points in a game five times this season.
Senior F Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) continued his impressive play with a game-high 27 points and added 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. Centenary raced out to 44-19 lead at halftime and outscored the Majors 41-26 in the second half to cruise the victory.
The Gents shot 41.1 % (30-73) from the floor for the game and made 15-18 attempts from the free throw line for 83.3 %. The Majors were ice cold all night on offense and finished just 16-56 from the floor for 28.6 %. Millsaps was just 3-25 from beyond the arc for 12 % and went 10-15 from the FT line for 66.7 %. Centenary hit 10 treys in 37 attempts for 27 % as the Maroon and White made 10 for the second game in a row and have now hit double-digit treys in a game four times this season.
Centenary outscored Millsaps in the paint, 38-22, and scored 39 points off of the Majors' 29 turnovers. The Gents only turned the ball over 10 times which the Majors turned into just seven points. Centenary finished with 22 second-chance points and Millsaps had 15. The Gents finished with 17 fast break points to the Majors' five and Centenary's bench outscored the Majors' 21-17.
Two other Gents reached double figures as junior F Jakobi Greenleaf (Houston, Texas) scored 13 and senior G Jalen Behr (Athens, Ga.) scored 11. Junior G Craig Collier (North Little Rock, Ark.), sophomore G Quentin Beverly (Katy, Texas), and freshman F Khristian Wilkerson (Killeen, Texas) all scored seven points.
Sophomore G Dalyn Davis (Natchitoches, La.) scored six points, freshman G Gerald Murage (Irving, Texas) had four, and freshman G Bakari Nelson (Evergreen Park, Ill.) chipped in three. Senior G Chrys Jackson (North Las Vegas, Nev.), senior G Coby Harris (Lafayette, La.) and junior C Ruben Cazares (Tucson, Ariz.) were each held scoreless but Jackson had two assists, a rebound, and a steal in nine minutes and Cazares had one rebound in three minutes.
Millsaps was led in scoring by Rodney Phillips Jr. (12 points) as he was the only Major to reach double figures. Drew Roth scored seven, Dakota Gasca had six, and three players (Devin Harris, Cameron Lumar, and Noah Babineaux) each scored four. Devin Bass chipped in three points, Evan Watson and Nicholas Ughovwa each scored two, and Aaron Ursin scored one.
Thomas played 32 minutes and was 10-15 from the floor, 205 from beyond the arc, and 5-6 at the FT line with two steals and an assist, Greenleaf was 6-11 from the floor and 1-1 from the FT line in his 28 minutes with nine rebounds, two steals and an assist, and Behr added four boards, two steals and an assist as he was 4-12 overall and 3-10 from beyond the arc in 25 minutes.
Collier played 27 minutes and was 3-9 from the floor and 1-5 from beyond the arc with two rebounds, two assists, and a steal and Beverly played 18 minutes and was 1-5 from the floor, 1-4 from 3-point range, and 4-5 at the FT line with two rebounds, and assist, and one steal. Wilkerson was 3-6 from the floor in eight minutes off the bench and 2-2 at the FT line with three rebounds, Davis was 2-7 from the floor with a pair of treys in six attempts in his 20 minutes and added two rebounds, three assists, a blocked shot, and a steal. Murage played 25 minutes and was 4-4 at the FT line with six rebounds, two assists, and a steal.
The Gents started fast and led 10-1 at the 16:34 mark on a layup by Collier and extended the lead to 25-3 on a trey by Thomas with 10:28 remaining. A Thomas layup at the 6:12 mark made it 35-9 and the Majors finally reached double figures at the 5:56 mark on a basket by Bass that made it 35-11. Centenary extended its 44-19 halftime lead to 49-23 on a Davis trey with 17:59 remaining and 54-26 at the 14:37 mark. A Thomas layup made it 60-28 with 12:14 remaining and a jumper by Wilkinson at the 4:58 mark made it 74-37 and a dunk by Thomas gave the Gents a whopping 82-39 lead with 2:26 left.
The Gents will return to league play next Tuesday with a road contest against the University of St. Thomas in Houston on Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 5:30 p.m.
See the complete Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mbkb/2023-24/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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