Irving, Texas - The Centenary men's basketball team finished its opening weekend in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play on a high note as the Gents edged the University of Dallas Crusaders by a score of 91-87 led by a career-high 34 points from senior F Seth Thomas (Kilgore, Texas) on Saturday evening at the Maher Center.
The Gents (4-5, 1-1 SCAC) shook off a loss at Austin College on Friday in their SCAC opener to record a season-high in points against the Crusaders (3-6, 1-1 SCAC). Centenary's previous high in points was 90 which the Maroon and White accomplished in a 90-86 win against Arlington Baptist at home last month.
Thomas was one of six Gents to reach double figures as he scored 30 or more points for the first time in his career and has now reached double figures in all nine games this season. He scored 20 points on Friday against the 'Roos and has now scored 20+ points six times this season and scored in double figures for the 33rd time in his last 36 games.
Thomas was 9-13 from the floor, 3-4 from beyond the arc, and 13-16 from the free throw line in 35 minutes of action with six rebounds, four assists, two blocked shots, and a steal. His previous career high in points was 26 against Colorado College last season at home. He averaged 25.3 PPG in Centenary's three games this week while shooting 52.5 % from the floor while averaging 32.3/minutes per game. He scored 22 points at Belhaven on Monday to begin his impressive week.
Junior G Craig Collier (North Little Rock, Ark.) matched his season high with 13 points, senior G Jalen Behr (Athens, Ga.) scored 11, and three players scored 10 points each - sophomore G Dalyn Davis (Natchitoches, La.), junior F Jakobi Greenleaf (Houston, Texas), and sophomore G Quentin Beverly (Katy, Texas). Freshman G Gerald Murage (Irving, Texas) scored two points and freshman F Khristian Wilkerson (Killeen, Texas) had one.
Jack Boyle led the Crusaders with 24 points, Marcus Juarez had 20, Kelton Coleman scored 19 and Johny Olmsted had 13. Jamal Leftwich had nine and Zac Olmsted chipped in two. Boyle grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds to record a double-double and Leftwich and Coleman each finished with seven boards.
Collier played 28 minutes off the bench and was 3-5 from the field and a perfect 6-6 at the FT line with five rebounds, three steals, and two assists. Behr was 4-9 from the floor and 3-6 from beyond the arc in 30 minutes with four rebounds and three assists. Davis played 34 minutes and shot 3-9 overall, 1-3 from beyond the arc, and 3-4 at the FT line with for boards, an assist, and a steal. Greenleaf was 5-10 from the floor with a season-best and game-high 15 rebounds in his 34 minutes. He added two assists and a blocked shot and Beverly was 4-6 from the floor and 2-3 from beyond the arc in 12 minutes. Murage played 14 minutes and had an assist and a steal and Wilkerson added one rebound in his five minutes. Junior C Ruben Cazares (Tucson, Ariz.) was held scoreless in his three minutes but had an assist and a rebound.
Centenary had one of its strongest overall offensive performances on Saturday as it shot 48.3 % (28-58) from the floor, 47.6 % (10-21) from beyond the arc and 75.8 % (25-33) from the FT line. Dallas shot 47.7 % (31-65) overall, 39.3 % (11-28) from 3-point range, and 66.7 % (14-21) from the FT line. The Gents outrebounded the Crusaders 39-32 and each team scored 32 points in the paint. Centenary turned the ball over 15 times and scored 19 points off of Dallas' 12 turnovers while the Crusaders scored 22 points off of turnovers. Each team scored eight second-chance points, and the Gents finished with advantages in both fast break points (19-9) and bench points (26-19).
Dallas controlled the majority of the first half, racing out to leads of 9-2, 16-8, and 21-11 and led 30-14 after Juarez knocked down a trey with 10:01 remaining before halftime. A 3-pointer by Coleman gave the Crusaders a 35-18 lead and a dunk by Boyle extended the Dallas lead to 37-18 at the eight-minute mark, prompting the Gents to call a timeout which became a media timeout. The Gents' offense then came to life as they outscored the Crusaders, 20-7, to close the first half and cut their deficit to just six at the break.
Collier's jumper at the 18:05 mark of the second half knotted the score at 47-47 and after a jumper by Boyle gave Dallas a 49-47 lead, a trey by Behr gave Centenary its first lead of the game. Several ties and lead changes occurred over the next 10-11 minutes until the Gents began to take control. Baskets by Greenleaf and Thomas and four FT's by Thomas gave Centenary a 76-70 lead with six minutes left. A jumper by Greenleaf made it 82-73 Gents with 2:49 remaining and although the Crusaders got within four points (88-84) on a pair of FT's by Boyle, the Gents held on for the road win thanks in part to sinking 9-10 FT's in the final two minutes.
Centenary returns to its home court on Tuesday evening as the Gents will face the Millsaps College Majors in a non-conference contest set for 6 p.m. at the Gold Dome.
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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