SHREVEPORT, La. -- AJ Hall scored a game-high 16 points and added five rebounds in leading third-seeded and host Centenary College to a 64-51 upset of second-seeded University of St. Thomas in the semifinals of the 2024 SCAC Men's Basketball Tournament on Saturday afternoon. Official Tournament Website | Photo Gallery | Postgame Interview | Men's Tournament Stats
Centenary (16-11) advances to tomorrow's SCAC Championship game where the Gents will play fourth-seeded Colorado College (16-11), who upset the top-seed and 10th-ranked Trinity University in the first men's semifinal earlier this afternoon. Centenary began the game on a 15-2 run thanks to a Seth Thomas 3-pointer at the 13:24-mark. St. Thomas fought back as the Celts cut the lead to 20-19 with 5:51 to play before halftime on a Nicholas Buffalo layup. The Gents then took a 29-25 lead into the intermission. A Ricky Altamirano 3-pointer pulled St. Thomas to within 35-33 at the 13:03-mark. From there, Centenary extinguised any hopes of a St. Thomas comeback.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Centenary turned 13 St. Thomas turnovers into a 20-7 edge in points off of turnovers.
- St. Thomas outscored Centenary 26-18 in the paint.
- The Gents held a 21-14 margin in bench points.
- The Celts won the battle on the glass as St. Thomas held a slim 38-35 margin in rebounding, including a 12-6 edge in offensive rebounds.
- Centenary shot 42.3 percent (22-of-52) from the floor for the game including a blistering 52.2 percent (12-of-23) in the second half.
- St. Thomas was limited to just 31.6 percent (18-of-57) from the field for the game, including just 5-of-28 (17.9 percent) from beyond the arc.
- AJ Hall: 16 points, 5-of-11 FG, five rebounds, one assists, one steal
- Quentin Beverly: 12 points, four rebounds, 4-of-4 FT, one steal
- Seth Thomas: 9 points, 4-of-8 FG, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals
- Jakobi Greenleaf: 8 points, five rebounds, one assist, one steal
- Nicholas Buffalo: 15 points, 10 rebounds, 7-of-12 FG, one assist
- Nick Anderson: 12 points, six rebounds (three offensive), two assists, one steal
- Ricky Altamirano: 8 points, five rebounds, four assists
- Centenary advances to the SCAC championship game for the fifth time in program history and the first time since winning its lone tournament title in 2020.
- The Gents improved to 12-10 all-time in SCAC tournament play, including a 1-2 mark against St. Thomas.
- This marks just the third time in tournament history, and the first since 2007, that neither of the top-two seeds advanced to the championship game.
- Not counting the 2021 SCAC tournament where the top seed hosted each game due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this marks just the fourth time a host institution has advanced to the championship game. The host school is 2-1 in those three previous championship appearances.
- In 22 years of SCAC touranament play, Centenary is attempting to become just the third men's team to win the conference tournament on its home floor. Trinity won the championship in 2014 as host while Texas Lutheran took home the tournament title on its home floor in 2019.
- St. Thomas falls to 20-6 on the season. The Celts will await any potential NCAA postseason fate when the bracket is announced on Monday. St. Thomas currently ranks third in the most recent Region X rankings.
