Centenary gained a late lead and hung on tight to defeat Southwestern men's basketball 87-80 on Saturday night in the SCAC Conference Tournament semifinal.

The Pirates played well early, leading by eight points 27-19, midway through the first half and pushed that lead to 12, 32-20, with 8:39 to play in the half.

­Centenary pressed hard but SU held firm as the Pirates took a nine point lead into the break 51-43.

The start to the second half was all Gents as they opened on a 10-0 run to take the lead 53-51 five minutes in. Adrian Johnson broke the Pirates scoring drought from the free throw line and Blake Scott followed with a monster dunk to put SU back on top 54-51.

As the clock ticked under five minutes Southwestern was deadlocked with Centenary 69-69 until Danny Kellum drained a three. Ben Stiver hit another from the corner to put Southwestern on top 75-69 with just under four minutes to play.

Centenary put on a full court press and forced three consecutive turnovers to take the lead 78-75 with two minutes remaining. The lead would hold despite Southwestern's best efforts, falling 87-80.

Su shot 50% from the floor and 34.8% from three point range but got just 12 points from the free throw line while Centenary went 48.3% from the floor and 23.1% from long range but made 28-38 from the charity stripe. Southwestern also committed 19 turnovers in the loss but won the battle of the glass 33-32.

Ryan Ogden and Chris Lee led Southwestern with 13 points each while Scott added in 10. Centenary's James Sapp led all scorers with 28 points.

Southwestern ends the year at 15-10 overall.