By PATRICK MEEHAN, Centenary Assistant AD
The Centenary Ladies and Gents return to Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference basketball play on Friday at home as they face LeTourneau at the Gold Dome. The men’s game is set for 5:30 and the Ladies’ game will follow at 7:30.
The Ladies (2-7, 1-0 SCAC) are 0-3 at home this season and were last in action on Dec. 12 at Howard Payne where they fell 85-40.
The Gents got back to action Tuesday afternoon with an exhibition loss at Grambling State. Centenary (1-8, 0-1 SCAC) fell 91-75 at home to Mary Hardin-Baylor on Dec. 19.
Senior guard Quentin Beverly is the Gents’ leading scorer this season (15.8 points per game) and senior guard Amiyah Barrow leads the way for the Ladies (7.9).
In a recent conversation, I sat down with first-year Gents’ coach J.A. Anglin for a “Q and A” before the holiday break. The first few questions ran here last Wednesday. This is part 2 of 2 … enjoy!
What does it mean to be the coach at a school like Centenary with such a rich basketball tradition and history?
(ANGLIN) “It is an honor and a pleasure to coach at Centenary College. I have a lot of great memories as a child watching college basketball in the Gold Dome. I played against Centenary as a sophomore at Northwestern State. Sometimes I have to pinch myself when I am driving up to the Gold Dome just to make sure I’m not dreaming.”
“I had the opportunity to visit with (former head coach) Coach (Tommy) Vardeman and some former Gents at one of our football games this season. It was great to hear about all of their positive experiences at Centenary College.
“(Former star player) Herb Lang recently spoke at our Bicentennial Celebration earlier this month. It was great to hear about how much of his life and career with the Harlem Globetrotters was impacted by Centenary. My high school coach, Willie Jackson, was one of the best players to put on a Centenary uniform. He was in attendance for our first win at ETBU. It has been awesome to reconnect with some former players and get to know others in my short time here.”
What are your goals for the remainder of the season?
“Despite our record, all of our goals for this season are still in front of us. As a program, we want to constantly be in the hunt for a conference championship. We know that starts with our results in conference play. Our goal is to qualify for the SCAC tournament at Hendrix this season.
“I’ve played and coached college basketball for so long now that I know anything can happen when you qualify for the conference tournament. A lot of times it comes down to matchups and who is playing well going into the conference tournament. It is our goal to be playing our best basketball in February.”
Contact Patrick at pmeehan@centenary.edu