IRVING, Texas — Effort outweighed execution on the final play in the Southwestern men's basketball team's 68-66 victory over the University of Dallas Crusaders, ending with Kyle Poerschke's three-point play to beat the final buzzer by fractions of a second.
After Poerschke missed a pair of free throws with 33 seconds left and Dallas leading 66-65, Dallas gave the Pirates new life when the Crusader's Letrell Toussaint followed suit with two missed free throws of his own.
Dallas defenders snuffed out Southwestern's first ball screen set by Brock Luechtefeld for Preston Hannah with less than 10 seconds remaining. A quick ball reversal and dribble handoff from Josh Jones to Jacob Hester likewise gained no advantage for the Pirates until some crafty footwork on a spin by Hester opened a space for a step-through.
Hester's layup fell off the rim and into the hands of Luchtefeld, who battled two Crusaders to pull down the offensive rebound. The freshman center showed great awareness and poise on the play, finding a cutting Poerschke with a pass that left his hands just fractions of a second after securing the rebound, leading to the layup and foul for the final three-point play.
The three-point play put Poerschke at the 20-point mark for the sixth time this season and the first time since scoring 22 points against Carleton on Nov. 26.
It wasn't the most efficient 20-point game of Poerschke's career, shooting just 5-for-17 from the field, including 2-for-7 from the 3-point line, but Southwestern's leading scorer gutted it out by earning 13 free-throw attempts, making eight.
Southwestern opened the game in a funk, shooting 8-for-30 with 10 turnovers in the first half with Poerschke shooting 1-for-8, leading the Pirates with seven points with a 5-for-7 performance from the free-throw line. The sloppy play led to an 11-3 Dallas advantage in points off turnovers, leading to a Crusaders 32-27 lead at halftime.
Dallas reeled off a 12-4 run early in the second half, putting together its largest lead at 54-43 on a Toussaint dunk off a feed by Jack Boyle with 12:32 remaining.
Josh Jones sparked Southwestern's comeback with back-to-back 3-pointers, scoring all 10 of his points in the final 11 minutes, shooting 3-for-5, including 2-for-4 from the 3-point line with a pair of free throws over that stretch.
Poerschke came to life, scoring Southwestern's final nine points over the last three minutes, hitting a 3-pointer and a pair of and-one three-point plays to finish with 13 second-half points on 4-for-8 shooting. Poerschke finished with 20 points, nine rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and a steal.
Luechtefeld added 10 points, six rebounds, and two blocks while Jones led all bench scorers with 10 points. Dallas had three players in double figures, with Toussaint and Boyle scoring 14 each.
Southwestern improves to 5-9 with a 2-3 conference record. The Pirates will host Texas Lutheran on Tuesday, Jan. 18, at 5:30 p.m., followed by a rematch with Dallas at home on Saturday.
