SHREVEPORT, La. — First-half scoring struggles doomed the Southwestern University Pirates men's basketball team in an 84-74 road loss to the Centenary College Gentlemen.
Brandon Alexander led four Pirates in double figures, scoring 16 points with five rebounds and four assists, shooting 5-for-14 from the field. Preston Hannah scored 13 points with three 3-pointers and Kyle Howard had 10 points and nine rebounds. Kyle Poerschke added 14 points off the bench on 5-for-9 shooting.
Southwestern struggled mightily in the first half, shooting just 7-for-26, including 4-for-14 from deep. Alexander was the lone Pirate able to gain traction, scoring 12 on 10 shots with four rebounds.
Howard led an offensive revival in the second half, scoring 10 points with eight rebounds, including four on the offensive end, helping the Pirates shoot 45.9 percent in the half. Poerschke scored all 14 of his points after the break and a late surge brought the Pirates within single digits on a Joel Martinez layup with 4:18 remaining but Southwestern struggled to close the gap any further.
Cedric Harris led Centenary with 25 points and 17 rebounds, shooting 8-for-18 from the field and 4-for-13 from long distance. Seth Thomas added 8 points and nine rebounds, shooting 7-for-9 from the free-throw line. Three other Centenary players scored in double figures as the Gentlemen shot 46.3 percent for the game.
With the loss, the Pirates drop to 7-6 for the season and 3-3 in conference play. Southwestern will travel to Houston to play St. Thomas on Sunday at noon.