Roman Gentry

Title

Head Men's Basketball Coach
Email

rgentry@peru.edu

Gentry enters his third season as the head coach of the Bobcats. Last season, he led the Bobcats to win the Heart of America Conference Tournament Championship. The team finished with an overall record of 20-12 and having a .625 winning percentage.

The Bobcats were Conference Tournament Champions after defeating three of the four top seeds in the tournament. Peru State was seeded No. 5 going into the tournament, defeating No. 4, Central Methodist, 76-72 on the road. They went on to defeat No. 1 MidAmerica Nazarene, 71-67, before ultimately defeating No. 2 Baker in the Conference Tournament Championship, 63-59. Winning their first Heart Conference Tournament Championship since 2019.

Gentry led the team to the NAIA National Tournament for the second year in a row. The Bobcats were a 15 seed in the national tournament and matched up to play No. 2 Oklahoma Wesleyan. The Bobcats fell in the opening round to the Eagles 83-65.

The 2023-24 squad broke the single game record for three pointers made in a single game with 20 against Park on January, 15, 2024. The previous record had been set just one year prior during the 2022-23 season. Sayvon Traylor had the 7th most 3-Point field goals made in a single season in the Peru State record books with 90.

David Wingett Jr. earned First-Team All-Conference and Sayvon Traylor earned Second-Team All-Conference. Carlos Hines and Ajantae Hogan earned All-Conference Honorable Mention.

During the 2022-23 season, Coach Gentry took the Bobcat program to new heights. Peru State finished with a 25-8 overall record in the 2022-23 season. The 25 wins is tied for second most all time all long with Newt Kyle's 1950-1951 teams and John Gibbs 1996-1997 team. Peru State also finished with a 17-5 Heart of America Athletic Conference record which is also tied for most all time.

The Bobcats had .758 winning pct. on the year and a .773 conference winning percentage. They had a 14-4 home mark with a 10-3 road record as the team was "road warriors" all season long. Peru State also finished 1-1 in neutral site games.

Peru State's record earned them the No. 2 seed in the Heart Conference Tournament as they made a run to the conference championship game. The Bobcats defeated No. 7 seed Graceland 78-56 in the Heart Quarterfinals and defeated No. 3 seed Evangel 76-71 in OT in the Heart Semifinals before falling in the Heart Championship game to No. 1 seed William Penn 95-82.

Peru State made it to the NAIA National Tournament for the first time since the 2018-2019 season where they were defeated by William Carey 95-89. The Bobcats earned a six seed in the national tournament winning its first-round matchup against 11 seed Mayville State 101-92 before falling to three seed and host site Jamestown 95-88.

Peru State was one of the best offensive teams in the country in the 2022-23 season as the 51.7% from the field was good for fifth in the NAIA, its 38.7% shooting from beyond the arc was good enough for tenth best in the country, its effective field goal percentage was 58.9% good for third best in the NAIA and its true shooting percentage was seventh best at 61.2%.

Peru State also was ninth in the country in points per possession with 1.156.

The 2022-23 Bobcat squad has the most field goals made in a single season in program history with 1,058. Peru State also broke the single game record for three pointers made in a single game with 18 against Avila back on November 5, 2022.

Lorenzo Anderson (Lithonia, Ga.) made the top-30 all time single season point scorer with 518 points. Man Man Baker (Aurora, Colo.) is now second all time in single season assists with 201 and Sayvon Traylor (Atlanta) is now the single season 3-point percentage leader 47.9% minimum one attempt per game.

Jibril Harris (Chicago), Man Man Baker (Aurora, Colo.), were named First Team All-Conference. Lorenzo Anderson (Lithonia, Ga.) and Troy Houghton (Omaha) were named Second Team All-Conference while Sayvon Traylor (Atlanta) was named All-Conference Honorable Mention.

Harris was also named to NAIA All-American Honorable Mention

Gentry was previously at the University of South Dakota as an assistant coach for the 2021-22 season. The Coyotes were 19-12 overall that season with an 11-7 record in the Summit League. While at his alma mater, he coached four All-Summit League players in Kruz Perrott-Hunt and Mason Archambault (2nd Team), Tasos Kamateros (Honorable Mention) and Boogie Anderson (All-Defensive Team). Before his most recent stint at USD, he was an assistant coach at Concordia St. Paul (Minn.) from 2014-2021 in the Northern Sun Conference.

While at CSP, he helped lead the Golden Bears to a conference tournament berth every year except one. In his first season with the team, he helped them to a 19-11 record. He also coached four players whom earned All-NSIC Honors and 12 student-athletes who earned NSIC All-Academic Honors.

Gentry was a former player for USD where he averaged 17.6 ppg and was First Team All-Great West.

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Roman Gentry