The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament opened up with fourth seed Southwestern University taking a 74-67 win over fifth-seeded Centenary College on Friday evening.
Southwestern (11-15) built a 36-29 halftime lead, which turned out to be the difference after both teams posted 38 points in the second half of play. The game was marked by more than 60 fouls overall – including 40 in the decisive second half, slowing down the pace of play. The two teams also combined to shoot 75 free throws in the game.
Centenary (9-15) took an early 10-5 lead over Southwestern, but the Pirates took control shortly after, using a 17-5 run to go ahead by 12 with less than three minutes remaining until the half. The Gents cut the lead to seven by halftime, thanks in large part to a 47.4% shooting performance in the period.
In the second half, Centenary was able to keep it close despite 33% shooting. The Pirates never trailed after the break, though the Gents did tie the game several times in the period. The last tie came at 58-58 with just under five minutes to play, and Southwestern promptly responded by scoring six of the next seven points to take a 64-59 lead with 2:24 to play.
Centenary had the lead down to three (66-63) with 1:08 to play, but Southwestern hit 6-8 free throws in the final 46 seconds to secure the win down the stretch. Michael Cantu hit all six of his foul shots in that time, as well as 11-12 overall in the game.
Overall, Southwestern scored 25-38 (65.8%) from the free throw line, while Centenary knocked down 27-37 (73%). The Pirates also shot 45% from the field in the second half – including 2-3 three-point shots.
Cantu was Southwestern’s only play to reach double figures in the game, finishing with 18 points in his 27 minutes. Blake Scott added nine points off the bench, while Chase Kocher and Nicholas Atiee chipped in with eight points each.
Jonathan Blount led all scorers with 20 points on 6-13 shooting, as well as tying for the team lead with seven rebounds in his 37 minutes. Caden Cheramie and JaColby Hardin-Crawford scored 15 points each for the Gents. Cheramie hit 11-13 free throws, while Hardin-Crawford connected on 6-9 from the field and 3-5 from distance.
Southwestern advances to the SCAC Semifinals tomorrow, facing off against top seed Trinity University, who received a first-round bye. The Tigers and Pirates will play for the fourth time this season at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday evening. Trinity won two of the three games against Southwestern during the regular season.