The SU men's basketball team could not hold its lead late in regulation as Oglethorpe University tied the game to send it to overtime when the Stormy Petrels outscored the Pirates 14-9 en route to a 80-75 OU victory on Friday (Jan. 26) in Georgetown, TX.
Oglethorpe managed to take control in the early part of the first half after an 8-0 run made the score 13-5. The Stormy Petrels largest lead of the game came less than a minute later when Eric Dickinson drained a three with 13:19 on the clock. The Pirates then answered with 13 straight points, capped by a Micah Salinas (San Antonio, TX/Highlands HS) to take a 20-17 lead. The score remained close the rest of the half and SU took a 32-29 lead in to halftime.
Southwestern held the lead the entire second half, leading by as many as 10 after a layup by Salinas 7:24 left to play. Oglethorpe then began chipping away at the lead and Andrew Tulowitsky scored 12 of the Stormy Petrels final 14 points in the final 3:35 of regulation. Tulowitsky hit a three-pointer with 13 seconds on the clock to tie the game and send it to overtime. Oglethorpe took the lead on a free throw just 12 seconds in to the overtime period and led the entire time.
Junior Mike Powell (Houston, TX/Episcopal HS) led the Pirates with a career-high 22 points. He was 6-11 from the floor, 3-6 from three-point range and 7-7 at the charity stripe while also dishing out three assists. Senior Casey Gorder (San Antonio, TX/Texas Military Academy) added 10 points on 5-8 shooting and led the team with seven rebounds.
Junior Ben Schleif (San Antonio, TX/Reagan HS) also had 10 for Southwestern, thanks to 4-11 shooting. He also recorded four steals and had three assists. Salinas, Anthony Cox (Flower Mound, TX/Flower Mound HS) and Goran Stojcic (Houston, TX/Stratford HS) all had eight points for the Pirates.
Free throws proved to be the difference in the game as the Pirates were called for 28 fouls, the Stormy Petrels only had 18 called against them, which resulted in Oglethorpe going to the foul line 41 times. The Petrels made 27 free throws while SU was 14-17 from the charity stripe.
Southwestern out-shot OU 44.8 percent (26-58) to 41.5 percent (22-53) but was out-rebounded 41-31. The Pirates forced 27 turnovers while committing just 24 themselves. Tulowitsky finished the game with 36 points.
Southwestern is now 8-10 overall and 3-5 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play. Oglethorpe improves to 9-8 overall and 3-4 in the SCAC.
The Pirates continue SCAC play when they host the Sewanee Tigers on Sunday (Jan. 28) with tip-off set for 12:00 p.m.
