Senior guard Mike Powell (Houston, TX/Episcopal hs) scored a career-high 24 points, helping the southwestern University men start Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play with a 2-0 overall record by defeating Austin College 71-66 on Saturday (Dec. 1) night in Georgetown, TX.
The Pirates opened with the first six points of the game and held a 10-5 lead at the 16:18 mark. The Roos scored the next eight points for a three-point lead. After a number of lead changes, SU went ahead 26-22 with 5:07 left in the half but then allowed Austin to go on a 10-2 run and take a four-point lead. The Pirates then went in to the half trailing by two after sophomore Ross Hayes (Houston, TX/Clements HS) hit a pair of free throws to end the half.
The Roos largest lead of five came came just over than two minutes in to the half. Austin led until the 13:12 mark when the Pirats took the lead for good on a Powell three. Southwestern built its lead to 61-49 at the 2:10 mark. Over the final 2:16 of the game, Austin's Kola Alade was 5-6 from the floor and 4-5 from three-point range, making most of his shots while off balance with one or two Pirates guarding him tightly. Alade pulled the roos within two with 31 seconds left and then Zach Bergstrom (La Vernia, TX/La Vernia HS) hit one of two free throws to make the score 69-66 with 28 seconds to go. Austin turned the ball over with 11 seconds to go and senior Ben Schleif (San Antonio, TX/Reagan HS) put thegame out of reach with a layup with nine seconds left.
Powell made a career-high seven field goals in the game, connecting on 7-10 in the game. He was 3-6 from three-point range and 7-12 at the free throw line. Schleif put up 10 points along with four steals and three assists. His four steals tied a career-high.
Matt Caplan (Houston, TX/University of Kansas) recorded a game-high nine rebounds and Miles Elsey (Wimberley, TX/Wimberley HS) led all players with four assists. Bergstrom scored nine for the Pirates.
The Pirates were 22-52 (42.3 percent) from the floor and connected on 36 percent (9-25) from beyond the three-point arc. SU missed out on an opportunity to put the game further out of reach by making just 18-32 from the free throw line. Austin held a distinct advantage on the boards, out-rebounding SU 40 to 30. The Pirates also did a good job of handling the Roos relentless defensive pressure by turning the ball over just 13 times while forcing Austin to commit 21 turnovers.
The Pirates are now 2-0 in the conference with SCAC play on hold until the new year. Southwestern is also now 3-2 on the year. The Roos fall to 2-4 overall and 0-2 in SCAC play.
Southwestern's next game will be next weekend when they face off with the University of Dallas in Irving, TX on Saturday (Dec. 8) at 5:00 pm.
