DANVILLE, Ky. – The Southwestern men’s basketball team pulled out all the stops against a tough Centre College team and left with the 70-69 victory in a crucial SCAC match-up. The Pirates remain in first place in the West with a 13-5 overall record and 6-3 SCAC record for the 2009-10 season. Centre falls to 10-6 overall and 6-3 in the conference with the loss.

SU jumped out early in the contest building an 11 point lead just five minutes in behind four three-pointers, three by junior Nick Caputo. The Colonels pulled within two at three different points in the first half but Southwestern pulled away once again building the lead to 14 on an and one play by junior Jonathan Brown with six minutes to go in the half.

The Pirates headed into the break with a ten point lead in hand thanks to a last second three by senior Travis Barber to put the score at 42-32.

Centre came out of halftime with a new resolve and slowly chipped away at Southwestern’s lead and eventually pulled even for the first time since the opening tip at 48-48 with 13 minutes remaining in the game.

The Colonels captured the lead just past the halfway point in the second half for the first time and pulled ahead by four points, 63-59, with 6:48 to play.

Bergstrom nailed a layup and made the and one free throw the next time down the court to pull within one, 63-62 with 5:47 on the clock. Centre responded with a layup by Danny Noll and Caputo drained his fifth three of the game to lock the contest at 65-65 with 5:36 to go.

After trading layups SU scored its final field goal of the game, a three-pointer by senior A.C. Cox, that gave the Pirates a 70-67 lead with 1:25 to play and proved to be enough as they hung on for the 70-69 victory.

Caputo led with 21 points going 8-11 from the field and 5-7 from long range. Brown chipped in 12 points and Barber contributed 10. Overall Southwestern shot 51% (26-51) from the floor and a remarkable 54.5% (12-22) from three point range. Centre’s Jeff Mullaney had a team high 21 points while Noll ended with 19.

The Pirates were out-rebounded in the contest 22-34 and allowed the Colonels to keep the game close snagging 14 offensive boards to SU’s 6.

Southwestern returns home for a four game SCAC home stretch. They face Rhodes College on Friday night beginning at 8:00 pm.