SHREVEPORT-Freshman Jonathan Blount scored a career-best 15 points and Centenary had four players reach double-figure scoring, but it would become overshadowed by a solid shooting effort by the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, as the Gents fell 102-73 on Saturday afternoon.
The Gents (0-25, 0-13) got 15 points from Blount, who hit 8-of-10 from the charity stripe. Following him in scoring was junior Maxx Nakwaasah with 13, while sophomore Jeron Trotman and freshman Aaron Harwell added 11.
Centenary would gain a quick four-point advantage (8-4) in the first two minutes, but SDSU's offense began to heat up early and often as it managed to put together an overly impressive 31-6 run, which featured five points from Nakwaasah.
The Jackrabbits never backed down from the offensive or on the boards, pulling down 23 first-half rebounds and draining seven treys. SDSU was even more impressive from the free throw line, making all 12 attempts in the opening 20 minutes.
Centenary was down 54-26 at the half.
The second half seemed no different as Centenary wasn't ever able to answer to SDSU's offense. The Jackrabbits gained its largest lead of the night at 36 (88-52) with 7:51 left in the game.
The Gents would make 5-of-6 from the free throw line under the four-minute mark to narrow the score to 94-68, but the Jackrabbits answered back.
Centenary finished the night, shooting 49 percent (24-49) from the floor. The Gents hit 6-of-12 from deep and knocked down 73 percent (19-26) of their charity stripe shots.
SDSU fired off a 54 percent (35-65) effort and made 12-of-23 from behind the arc. Jordan Dykstra led SDSU with 20 points.
The Jackrabbits out rebounded the Gents, 38 to 22 and poured in 21 second-chance points to the Gents' 0.
Centenary will return to action on Thursday when it travels to Southern Utah for an 8 pm CT tip-off.
