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February 2015(First Half)
John Reinhart(Centenary)
2.4 Centenary(10-11, 4-7) @ Charleston Southern(12-10, 6-5) -- L 66-44
2.6 Centenary(10-12, 4-8) @ Coastal Carolina(6-17, 4-8) -- L 70-61
2.11 UNC Asheville(12-11, 7-5) @ Centenary(10-13, 4-9) -- W 77-68
2.13 Gardner Webb(12-12, 9-4) @ Centenary(11-13, 5-9) -- W 81-79
2.15 Dartmouth(5-16) @ Centenary(12-13) -- L 66-52
After having one of their better offensive games of the year in a win the first time out against Charleston Southern, Centenary proceeded to score just two points in the first six minutes ... and then go on a 11-0 run to take the lead over the next four. Unfortunately that surge proved to be an aberration, with the most of the game spent trying to stay close enough not to be blown out. That effort did not succeed. Shooting under 30% with 22 turnovers is a pretty safe path to getting pounded. Turnovers were again the story at Coastal Carolina, another team Centenary had previously beaten. This time they played better, but not well enough. It would have been closer if they hadn't missed half their free throws as well.
Back at home against UNC Asheville, the keep-it-close, steal-it-late strategy was on display again. Somebody should tell this team it's ok to be ahead. Really. Michael Blume's playmaking(9 pts, 9 ast) was exquisite towards the end, at one point assisting on four straight scoring plays. It would have been nice to see a little more of that in the first half, but an impressive close to win the game regardless. The McCoy/Camire/Cimino trio combined for 49 points on 59% shooting. Centenary won't lose often with that kind of execution, but it's been very rare this year.
The strategy went a little extreme against GW. Centenary went scoreless to spot them a dozen points, couldn't make a free throw to save their lives, and somehow managed to stay in the game. They quickly cut the deficit to two points ... then to one a few minutes later ... then tied it up ... and finally went ahead on a tip-in by Nunnery with six to play. For the most part it was the Gerald Cimino show. He fouled out in the final minute, but not before scoring 23 points. That should have been more than enough. Centenary led 69-60 with 2:12 remaining and had all the momentum in the world, but then Gardner Webb starting hitting threes. On the ensuing possessions, they proceeded to make just 5 of 14 free throws, with a turnover thrown in for good measure, and suddenly found themselves tied when Ferdinand Butterworth evened it up with five seconds left. Camire set up Nunnery for the game-winner, but the sharpshooter missed and it was on to overtime. They managed to blow another lead in the extra session after scoring the first five points, and then four consecutive missed foul shots with less than 30 seconds left and up two gave GW yet another chance. They missed at the buzzer, Rockwood grabbed the rebound, and Centenary survived despite having tried to give it away. FT shooting for the game was 18-38. That's just hideous.
Going for three straight in an out of conference tilt with Dartmouth, Centenary battled hard most of the game before being out-toughed in the final minutes. Reinhart was not amused at the poor box-outs and lazy fouls, and an opportunity to get back to .500 on the year was missed. An exception was Cordell Bradley(12 pts, 9 reb) who just missed out on a double-double.
Synopsis -- 181 RPI
Centenary is just one game out of the Big South cellar. They have yet to win a conference game on the road, and unless they take all three of them to finish the year, the goal of a .500 league mark is not going to happen. It's been an underwhelming stretch lately, two wins and three losses. The team's healthy, it's just not playing that well.
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