The Southwestern University men's basketball team dropped a tough 70-68 loss to the Millsaps College Majors in the conference opener in Georgetown, TX on Friday (Dec. 1) night.
The Pirates were in command throughout the first half, never trailing and taking a 10-7 lead on a Matt Caplan (Houston, TX/University of Kansas) three-pointer. With 8:20 left in the half, junior Ben Schleif (San Antonio, TX/Reagan HS) drained a three to put SU up by eight. The Majors pulled within five at the 5:11 mark on a Chris Sanders layup and the Pirates closed the half with a 13-6 run to lead 36-24.
Senior Casey Gorder (San Antonio, TX/Texas Military Academy) opened the second half with a layup to give Southwestern a 14-point lead, its largest of the game. SU led 49-39 with 13:18 left but MC went on a 12-3 run to pull within one. The Majors tied the game three times but Southwestern went ahead by one with 1:34 on the clock when first-year Ross Hayes (Houston, TX/Clements HS) hit a free throw. Lorenzo Bailey then nailed a three with a few seconds on the clock to give the Majors their first and last lead of the game, 70-68. Mike Powell (Houston, TX/Episcopal HS) threw up a desperation shot from just past the half-court line that failed to drop.
Caplan was the Pirates' leading scorer with 13 points on 5-10 shooting. He was 3-7 from three-point range and also led the team with six assists and five rebounds. First-year Anthony Cox (Flower Mound, TX/Flower Mound HS) was 2-3 from the field and 5-5 from the charity stripe for nine points along with five assists and two steals.
Gorder and Powell both had eight points while Powell also had four rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal.
The Pirate defense held Millsaps to just 7-22 shooting in the first half but then allowed the Majors to connect on 16-24 from the field, 7-9 on three-pointers, in the second half. Millsaps won the battle of the boards, holding a 27-25 advantage.
Southwestern is now 4-3 overall and 0-1 in the SCAC while Millsaps is 4-2, 1-0 in conference.
The Pirates continue conference play on Saturday (Dec. 2) as they host Rhodes College at 8:00 p.m. in Georgetown.
