GEORGETOWN, Texas – Southwestern’s men’s basketball game against Oglethorpe University lived up to the expectations as SU came away with the 60-57 victory that went down to the wire. The Pirates remain at the top of the west with a 12-4 overall record and 5-2 in the SCAC while Oglethorpe falls to 9-6 overall and 4-3 in the conference.

Senior Zach Bergstrom was all over the court in the first half, doing the dirty work on the boards on the defensive end, pulling down six, while converting on breakaways and draining threes on the offensive end going 5-6 from the field and 3-4 from three point range for 13 points.

Despite committing 11 first half turnovers Southwestern went into halftime up by three points, 28-25. SU dominated the glass in the first period, pulling down 21 rebounds to Oglethorpe’s 11.

After opening the second half with a 6-0 run Southwestern steadily built their lead and went up by 10 points with nine minutes remaining in the contest. Oglethorpe responded as the game got physical and pulled within five points, 51-46, to force an SU timeout.

Oglethorpe’s Tyler Cerone nailed two three-pointers coming out of the timeout to give the Petrel’s their first lead of the half, 53-51, but it wouldn’t last long as Southwestern’s junior center Jonathan Brown was found twice diving to the basket from the high post and knocked down the layup through traffic to put Southwestern up by one, 54-53, with 2:56 remaining.

Oglethorpe’s timeout allowed the Stormy Petrels to devise a clearout for Alex Richey who drove down the right side and hit a tough reverse layup to put OU up 57-56 with one minute to go.

Southwestern came down the floor and responded with a post entry to Brown who then kicked it out to senior A.C. Cox. Cox knocked down the game changing three pointer with 38 seconds remaining, putting SU up 59-57. Junior Nick Caputo pulled down the defensive rebound on the return play by Oglethorpe and hit one of two from the line to give the Pirates a 60-57 lead with four ticks left on the clock.

The Stormy Petrels were unable to get a good look at the basket in the final seconds thanks to suffocating Pirate defense that allowed SU to clinch the crucial win.

Bergstrom ended with 22 points to lead all scorers while Brown chipped in 14. Bergstrom was also one rebound shy of a double-double, securing nine boards. Oglethorpe’s Richey was the lone Petrel in double figures, putting up 20 points.

The Pirates head out on a tough road trip in the coming week, playing DePauw on Friday night and Centre on Saturday. The two teams are currently 4-2 in the conference (pending Saturday night’s results) and tied for second place in the eastern half of the conference.

Games are slated to begin at 8:00 pm, following the women’s match-up.