The Southwestern University men's basketball team defeated the Rhodes College Lynx 68-55 on Saturday (Dec. 2) night in Georgetown, TX to earn its first Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference win of the season.
The game remained close in the early-going with six lead changes and three tied scores in the first 10 minutes. The Pirates took a two-point lead with a three-pointer from junior Ben Schleif (San Antonio, TX/Reagan HS) at 10:34 and did not trail the rest of the way. SU gained its largest lead of the half when a Matt Caplan (Houston, TX/University of Kansas) made good on a layup for a 31-25 lead. Southwestern held a 31-29 lead at the half.
The Pirates opened the second half with a 9-0 run, going ahead by 11, that was capped by a Casey Gorder (San Antonio, TX/Texas Military Institute) jumper. After taking a 12-point lead, Southwestern allowed the Lynx to go on a 13-3 run and cut the lead to three with 9:27 to play.
Following an SU timeout, the Pirates scored 12 points in a row for a commanding 59-44 lead. Junior Mike Powell (Houston, TX/Episcopal HS) completed a three-point play, making a layup and the ensuing free throw to give the Pirates an 18-point lead, the largest of the game. Rhodes closed the gap to 68-55 at the end of the game.
Caplan scored a game-high 21 points for SU on 7-12 shooting, including 2-6 from three-point range and 5-7 from the charity stripe. The junior also recorded four rebounds, two blocks, one assist and one steal. Gorder shot 7-9 for 16 points and tied for a team-high five rebounds.
Sophomore Micah Salinas (San Antonio, TX/Highlands HS) provided a spark for the Pirates in the second half, blocking two shots and coming up with three steals. He was also 2-2 shooting in the half, including a break away dunk following a steal. Powell scored all 12 of his points in the second half, hitting on 3-7, including 1-3 from three-point range and 5-5 from the free throw line. Powell also pulled own five rebounds.
First-year Anthony Cox (Flower Mound, TX/Flower Mound HS) led all players with four assists along with six points.
Southwestern out-shot Rhodes 47.1 percent to 34.7 percent and forced the Lynx in to 23 turnovers. RC held a slight 34-33 advantage in rebounds but the SU defense had 10 blocks and 14 steals.
Southwestern is now 5-3 on the year, 1-1 in SCAC games while Rhodes falls to 3-4 overall and 1-1 in the conference.
The Pirates play again on Saturday (Dec. 9) when they host the Texas A&M International Dustdevils at 7:30 p.m. in Georgetown.
