GEORGETOWN, Texas — A few hours after the Southwestern women's basketball team defeated Texas Lutheran on a 3-pointer with nine seconds remaining, the men's team came up with some late magic of their own, defeating the Bulldogs 78-76 on a flip shot from Kyle Poerschke with 0.4 seconds remaining.
With four seconds remaining the game coming out of a Southwestern timeout, Poerschke did his work early and off the ball, flashing towards the sidelines as if to receive the ball on the inbounds, only to subtly shift his pivot, sealing his defender on his outside shoulder as his teammates cleared spaced the floor.
As Jacob Hester came off a curl, receiving the ball going baseline towards Poerschke to draw the help, Poerschke slipped into a passing lane to receive the bounce pass.
True to form, Texas Lutheran converged on the ball almost as quickly as it got there, surrounding Poerschke as he gathered for the final shot. This time, he answered with the composure absent in the Pirates' loss the previous night, softly flipping the ball through the net.
It was a brilliant performance from the reigning SCAC Player of the Week, scoring 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting in the second half to finish with a game-high 19 points on 16 shots with a team-high six rebounds.
As they had in the first game, Southwestern made an early run, taking an eight-point lead with 3:45 remaining in the first half on four consecutive free throws from Calvin Williams. Texas Lutheran closed the gap with back-to-back 3-pointers in the final minute to tie the game at 39-39 with 30 seconds remaining before the break. In a sign of things to come, the Pirates found Poerschke out of a timeout for a buzzer-beating jumper to lead 41-39 at the break.
In the second half, Texas Lutheran turned to the tried-and-true formula of Sebastian Andrade and Jamir Mason, whose shot-making talents combined for 21 second-half points on a combined 7-for-13 shooting.
Southwestern answered with Poerschke outdueling Andrade and the rest of the Pirates, moving the ball in a balanced attack with seven different scorers, assisting on nine of the team's 13 second-half baskets.
Both teams shot 47.5 percent from the field, with Texas Lutheran hitting four more 3-pointers than Southwestern and the Pirates earning an 18-10 edge in made free throws. After turning the ball over 14 times in the first game, Southwestern had only eight, outsourcing Texas Lutheran by seven in points off turnovers.
Three Pirates scored in double figures, with Calvin Williams and Trenton Garrett each scoring 16 points and grabbing four rebounds.
Mason led Texas Lutheran with 18 points on just nine shots and six assists. Caleb Lister bullied his way to 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Andrade finished with 12 points on 5-for-12 shooting.
With the win, Southwestern improves to 4-2 on the season, dropping Texas Lutheran to 2-4. The Pirates will travel next weekend to face the University of Dallas on Friday, Feb. 12, and Saturday, Feb. 13.