GEORGETOWN - The Southwestenr University men's basketball team were stunned by the Colorado College Tigers on Friday evening as a cold shooting night, especially from the free throw line, proved to be a difference in a 70-64 loss in the Robertson Center.
The Pirates shot 42% from the field, there lowest in three contests, including 33% from behind the arc, their lowest since January 7th, and 46% from the free throw line, a season-low. On the other side, Colorado College shot 44% from the field, 50% from deep, and an impressive 95% from the free throw line, proving to be the difference in the end.
The Tigers domianted the paint, especially in rebounds, outrebounding the Pirates 43-25. Southwestern forced Colorado College into 24 turnovers, but only scored 25 points off the takeaway. The Pirates also got 29 points from the bench.
Neither team could get anything going early on as Colorado College held a 6-4 lead in the first seven minutes. The Tigers took advantage of Southwestern's cold shooting, opening up a 25-13 lead with 5:49 to play in the first half.
From there, the Pirates looked as though they flipped a switch offensively, using tenacious defense to force 15 turnovers in the half, and outscoring the Tigers 16-7 to close the half and the defiict to only three points at 32-29. Sopohmore Joel Martinez scored eight points in the half to help ignite the run.
However, the start of the second half was similar to the start of the first as Colorado College outscored Southwestern 14-5 to pushed their lead back to 12 at 46-34. Sophomore Justin McCormack came off the bench and provided a huge spark, hitting back-to-back 3-pointer to immediately cut it to three points, followed by another 3-pointer a minute later to make it 48-43.
Down 51-47, sophomore Luke Hicks connected one a deep 3-pointer and followed that up with a floater in the paint to give the Pirates their first lead of the game at 52-51 with 8:13 to play. However, it would be the only lead Southwestern would hold as Colorado College responded immediately, scoring the next five points to move back ahead 57-53.
It was a back-and-forth affair throughout the final five minutes, but Colorado College maintained a lead by the slimmest of margins throughout. A late 3-pointer by Bobby Roth and tremendous free throw shooting closed the game out as the Tigers escaped Georgetown with a 70-64 win.
Martinez led the way with 12 points and three steals while sophomore Ryan Wheeler scored 11 to go with four steals. Hicks had 10 points and four assists while McCormack scored nine off the bench. Sophomore Jake Holmes pulled down eight boards while freshman Trenton Garrett had five blocks.
Cooxooeii Black led Colorado College with 18 points and 10 boards while Eric Houska added 14 points.
Southwestern falls to 8-10 overall and 4-3 in the SCAC. Surprisingly the Pirates are now 1-6 in the Robertson Center as they have dropped the last six on their home floor.
They look to reverse their bad luck on their home floor tomorrow afternoon as they welcome in the University of Dallas for a 4 PM tip-off.
