Southwestern University shot 51.9% from the field and 50% beyond the arc in the second half to blast past Sewanee, 72-49, on Saturday night's SCAC conference action in Georgetown, TX. The Pirates allowed just 19 second half Tiger points and scored 40 points themselves.
The Pirates opened up the game with a 6-0 run on two threes by junior guard Zach Bergstrom. Sewanee responded and eventually took the lead with 11 minutes left in the half. After trading baskets for the next 8 minutes, Southwestern took the lead once again on the back end of a one and one by junior guard Anthony Cox. Southwestern headed into halftime up by two.
Cox kept the Pirates in the game with his sharp shooting going 3-6 from the field, 2-3 from three point range and 7-7 from the free throw line for 15 of the Pirates 32 first half points.
SU returned from halftime and pushed the lead to 7 immediately on a jumper by sophomore forward Jonathan Brown and a three pointer by Bergstrom. The Tigers pulled within 5 points, 37-32, on a pair of Zach Mulligan free throws at 17:33, but that is as close as the Pirates would allow. Over the next 10 minutes, SU went on a 20-6 run to go up by 20 points, 57-38 with just under 8 minutes remaining in the game. The Pirates saw themselves up by as many as 21 twice in the final 3 minutes thanks to strong bench play and finished the game up by 23 on a last second three pointer by freshman forward Logan Hurley.
Southwestern was led by Cox who finished just 2 rebounds shy of a double-double. Cox ended with 21 points, going 3-4 from three-point range and 10-11 from the free throw line. Bergstrom followed with 12 points shooting 4-7 from beyond the arc. Cox and junior guard Travis Barber both pulled down 8 rebounds to lead the Pirates.
The win moves SU to 13-5 overall and 4-4 in the SCAC conference. They will hit the road again next week as they take on Center on Friday night at 6:00 pm and DePauw on Sunday afternoon at 12:00 pm.
