Texas Lutheran Falls to Centenary, 82-74

SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran dropped their third Friday night SCAC contest to Centenary College 82-74 at Memorial Gymnasium.

With the loss and a Colorado College win over Schreiner, the Bulldogs have been eliminated from SCAC Tournament contention.

Xavier Phillips (Austin/Dripping Springs) led with 18 points, five rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Phillips would be one of five Bulldogs in double figures.

Easton Allen (New Braunfels/Marion) joined Phillips in double figures with 17 points - his seventh consecutive game in double figures - and added four rebounds, two blocks, and two steals. Semaj Edwards (Lanham, MD/Oak Hill Academy) led the Bulldogs bench with 13 points while freshman Teddy Tapken (Austin/Lake Travis), the SCAC's field goal percentage leader, finished with 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting and grabbed a team-high six rebounds.

Texas Lutheran would keep the Gents within striking distance for a majority of Friday's contest but would ultimately trail for all but 19 seconds Friday night.

TLU kept it close and would trail 32-28 entering halftime. The first half saw two lead changes and three ties.

Allen and Edwards would score 13 points each in the second half - attempting to will the Bulldogs to victory but they were outlasted by a Gents offense that shot 17-of-30 (56.7%) in the second half.

Centenary would outscore the Bulldogs 50-46 in the second half as they would hold off the desperate Bulldogs. TLU would shrink the Gents lead to four with 1:41 remaining but the Gents would outscore the Bulldogs 7-3 down the stretch.

The Bulldogs (5-18, 4-10 SCAC) will look to play spoiler to the second place St. Thomas Celts Saturday evening (Feb. 10) as they welcome the Celts to Memorial Gymnasium. Tip-off is 4 PM with a crowd theme of Jersey Night. All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com.

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