The SU men's basketball team led for much of the game but could not outlast the Rhodes College Lynx on Saturday (Feb. 3) night, losing 61-54 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference action in Memphis, TN.
The Pirates held their largest lead of the game less than five minutes in when they took a 9-2 lead on a Casey Gorder (San Antonio, TX/Texas Military Institute) jumper in the paint. The Lynx answered right back with a 10-0 to take a short-lived three-point lead. Junior Ben Schleif (San Antonio, TX/Reagan HS) drained a three to tie the game at 12 before Miles Elsey (Wimberley, TX/Wimberley HS) put SU ahead for the remained of the half with 9:40 on the clock. The Pirates led by as many as six on a pair of occasions late in the half but took just a 26-25 lead in to the half.
In the second stanza, the two teams traded three-pointers for the first four baskets of the half. After a 34-34 tie at the 16:08 mark, the Pirates built their lead to six (43-37) less than three minutes later. Rhodes fought its way back to tie the game at 45-45. Southwestern held its final lead with 7:43 to go after a Mike Powell (Houston, TX/Episcopal HS) three put the Pirates ahead 48-47. Rhodes then regained the lead and Cory Smith was 8-8 from the charity stripe in the final minute of the game to help preserve the lead.
Junior Matt Caplan (Houston, TX/University of Kansas), the Bucs' leading scorer, scored in double-digits for the first time in four games. He led all players with 17 points on 6-15 shooting while also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds. Caplan also dished out three assists and had two steals. Elsey, a junior guard, recorded a career-high five assists for the Pirates while also tying a career-high with seven points.
Gorder and Powell both pitched in eight points in the loss while Powell also had three assists and Gorder had four rebounds. Schleif scored six points on 2-7 shooting, 2-6 from beyond the three-point arc.
The Pirates were out-rebounded 42-28 in the contest and were called for 21 fouls compared to RC, who was called for just 14. SU shot slightly better than the Lynx (35.8 percent-34.6 percent) and made one more three-pointer in the game. The difference for Rhodes was free throws as the Lynx connected on 17-20 and the Pirates made 7-10.
The Pirates' record drops to 9-12 on the year and just 4-7 in SCAC games.
Southwestern's next game will be a home tilt with rival Trinity University on Friday (Feb. 9) in Georgetown, TX with tip-off set for 8:00 pm.
