The Pirates battled a tough offensive night but were in the game until the end, falling 68-64 to top-ranked Centenary in Shreveport on Sunday.

Southwestern opened the game strong and played well throughout the first half but trailed most of the way. Travis Kurtz's three with 30 seconds left sent the Pirates into the locker room trailing by just one, 21-20.

Chris Lee's three with 18 minutes remaining tied the game 26-26 and kicked off a 13-5 run to give Southwestern an eight point lead, 39-31.

Centenary hung tight and eventually regained the lead 53-52 on Kendall Demouchet's jumper with 5:53 to play. Southwestern wasn't able to get the stop they needed defensively to regain control and fell 68-64.

The Pirates shot 37.5% from the floor and 28.6% from three point range and just 58.3% from the free throw line. Centenary was hot from the floor at 47.8% and 37.5% from three point range, but SU won the battle of the boards 37-32.

Travis Kurtz led Southwestern with 15 points and Adrian Johnson added in 11. Centenary's Travion Kirkendoll and Brandon Campbell posted 17 points each to lead all scorers.

The Pirates fall to 13-9 on the year and 8-5 in the SCAC while Centenary improves to 15-9 on the year and 11-3 in conference play. SU remains in third place in the SCAC with one game to play and have secured the #3 seed in the SCAC Championship. They face second placeTexas Lutheran on Friday night in Seguin at 8 p.m.