MARSHALL, Texas – Down early in the game, the East Texas Baptist University men's basketball team came up short in their comeback attempt as the Centenary College Gents used a late surge to take the win, 81-61. ETBU cut the lead to five halfway through the second half before Centenary went on a run and retake the momentum. ETBU is now 6-9 overall.
ETBU's top scorer was
Westin Riddick, who connected for five threes, with 15 points while
Jarrell Taylor had 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
Nolan Johnson finished as the top assist-maker with five. CC was led by Cedric Harris, who tallied 34 points while Treylan Matthews finished with 25 points.
CC outshot ETBU 48.3%-32.8% from the field although ETBU managed to do better from three-point range (39.3%-37.8%). In addition, the Gents outrebounded ETBU 37-31. The Tigers were able to pick up more steals (7-3).
Both teams would score a basket as Taylor (19:26) would get ETBU on the board before CC started to push away with a 12-3 run (19:10-18:24) leading 17-5. After Jordan Grey's three (15:11) made it 17-8, CC (14:16-9:05) would use the next six minute to tally fifteen points to lead 32-8. ETBU pulled within, 35-16, (6:33) with Riddick (7:28, 6:57) connecting for two three's while Taylor (6:33) added a layup. CC answered with seven straight points (5:43-3:39) to go back up 42-16. By the end of the first half, ETBU trailed 46-23.
The second half began with a 10-6 surge from the Gents (20:00-15:55) to lead 56-29 but ETBU would catch fire scoring seventeen unanswered points (15:53-10:39) to trail 56-46. Taylor (15:53, 15:42, 14:23) and Riddick (15:35, 12:40) would contribute six points each with Chris Haynes (11:56) and
Nathan Fontenot (10:39) picking up points as well. The ten point CC lead stuck until a Fontenot three (8:37) and free throws by Haynes (7:35) brought the score to 61-56. But that was as close as ETBU would get as the Gents would finish the game with a 20-5 surge to win 81-61.
ETBU continues their home stand with a Thursday night game at 7:30 PM against Louisiana College.
