SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran put four players in double-figures and dominated the offensive glass 21-5 to move to 2-0 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference with a 75-70 win over Centenary (La.) Friday night.
 
In TLU's Memorial Gymnasium, sophomore point guard Sterling Holmes (San Antonio/Antonian/Richland College) scored a game-high 19 and added six rebounds and six assists for the Bulldogs, who improved to 7-6 overall.
 
TLU (7-6, 2-0 SCAC) has won five of its last six games.
 
Centenary, led by James Sapp's 17 points and six rebounds, dropped to 5-8 overall and to 1-2 in the SCAC.
 
TLU used a Garrett Wilkins (Austin/Connally/Colorado Northwestern CC) three-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to take a three-point lead, 35-32, into the break.
 
The Bulldogs made their first seven shots of the second half and pushed the lead to nine at 45-36 with 16:53 remaining in the game.
 
Centenary chipped away at the TLU advantage and took a brief lead in the second half on two made free throws from Sapp with 8:40 to play.
 
The Bulldogs came right back with a 6-0 run that included a pair of Holmes buckets (a lay-up and a jumper) and two free throws from Jordan Kouremetis (San Antonio/O'Connor).
 
Centenary cut the TLU lead to three a couple of times in the final 40 seconds, but Donte McGee (Victoria/Memorial/Texas A&M-Kingsville) and Kouremetis hit the Bulldogs' final four free throw attempts.
 
"We kept our composure and kept making plays, and for the most part kept them off the offensive glass" said Jimmy Smith, TLU's first-year head coach. "We got a big enough cushion to where, even with a couple of mistakes with their press late and some missed free throws, we made the plays that we needed to win the game."
 
"Ultimately I think this shows the maturity of our group to keep going, keep going, keep going even when things didn't go our way. In the past, we haven't handled that well. Tonight we did what we needed to do to win."
 
McGee registered his third straight double-double by scoring 13 and grabbing 10 rebounds. McGee, a senior forward, now has five double-doubles this year. He leads the SCAC in rebounding at eights boards per contest.
 
Kouremetis went 3-for-5 from the field and 4-for-4 from the line to score 11 points. He also dished out four assists.
 
Senior post Thomas Verm (Sealy/Sealy) delivered 10 points and six rebounds.
 
TLU held a 13-0 edge in offensive rebounding at the half. The 21-5 offensive rebound edge for the game led to 12 additional shots for the Bulldogs.
 
The Bulldogs' total rebounding advantage over Centenary finished at 48-28.
 
Kendall Demouchet and Caden Cheramie each scored 15 for the Gents. Demouchet, the SCAC's leader in blocks, added six blocks and seven rebounds.
 
TLU returns to action Saturday at 8 p.m. with a home game against Colorado College (6-7, 1-2 SCAC).
 
TLU will have live video and live stats from tlubulldogs.com for both games of the basketball doubleheader. TLU Women's Basketball faces Colorado College at 6 p.m.