Gents Fall to IUPUI, Earn Eighth Seed in Tourney

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.—The Centenary men’s basketball team was out-scored 29-7 over the final 9:42 of the first half against IUPUI on Saturday and never recovered in losing to the Jaguars 87-62. With the loss, the Gents are handed the eighth seed in the upcoming Mid-Continent Conference Tournament to be played in Tulsa beginning next Saturday. Entering the final day of the regular season in seventh place in the Mid-Con standings, there were four possible scenarios involving the Gents in regards to seeding in next week’s conference tournament. Three of those scenarios had Centenary claiming the seventh seed and avoiding league champ Oral Roberts in the first round. However, the fourth scenario, which involved a Gents loss and a Western Illinois win, would deal the Maroon and White the eighth seed and that is exactly what happened Saturday night. Western Illinois upset Southern Utah 51-48 to finish in a seventh place tie with Centenary. The Leathernecks grabbed the seventh seed by virtue of the tiebreaker system. The two teams split the season series head-to-head, so the team with a win over the highest seeded team in the tournament field wins the second tiebreaker. One of WIU’s three wins came against second-seeded Oakland, while Centenary’s best win came over fifth-seeded Southern Utah. Centenary (10-20, 3-11 Mid-Con) will now open the Mid-Con Tournament with a 6 p.m. game Saturday against regular season champion Oral Roberts (20-10, 12-2 Mid-Con). Against IUPUI (14-14, 7-7 Mid-Con), the Gents trailed only 17-15 in a back and forth contest until the Jaguars reeled off 15 consecutive points over a three-minute span. Even when Centenary finally scored on a lay-up by Chase Adams, IUPUI did not slow down and finished the half on top 46-22. The Gents played the home team almost even in the second half 41-40, but Centenary could not gain ground on the large first half deficit. IUPUI out-shot the Gents 41.9 percent to 34.8 percent on the night and out-rebounded Centenary 50-38. The Jaguars also attempted 34 free throws, making 26 of those shots, while the visitors attempted only nine free tosses, making six. Senior Alexander Starr scored more than 20 points for the fifth straight game, finishing with 22 points in the loss to go with a team-high six boards. Nick Stallings had 17 points despite shooting a woeful 6-of-21 from the floor and Tyrone Hamilton added 11 points for the Gents. Angelo Smith led the IUPUI charge with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Gary Patterson sank four three-pointers for 19 points and Austin Montgomery netted 17 in the Jaguar win.