(Portions of this story courtesy of Centenary
College)
IRVING, Texas - Trailing 51-43 at the half,
Centenary College went on a 10-0 run to open the second period and
finally took control late to defeat Southwestern University, 87-80
in Saturday's second semifinal of the 2015 SCAC Men's Basketball
Tournament. Box Score | Official
Tournament Website | Men's
Interactive Bracket |Video Recap
Centenary moves on to face top-seed Texas Lutheran University at
2:30 p.m. with the conference title and an automatic berth in the
NCAA Tournament on the line.
SCAC Player-of-the-Year, sophomore forward James Sapp, led the
Gents with 28 points and nine rebounds – marking the 22nd
time this season the sophomore has scored in double figures and the
nine with 20-plus points this season.
Senior guard Caden Cheramie added 15 points with 14 coming from sophomore guard Brandon Campbell. SCAC Co-Newcomer of the Year, freshman guard Travion Kirkendoll, chimed in 10 points for the Maroon and White. The scoring effort marks the ninth in double figures for Cheramie. Kirkendoll added his 19th double-digit scoring effort and ninth consecutive while Campbell has 11 double figure scoring efforts, including his third straight in the win.
The Gents, who trailed by as many as 12 points in the contest, opened the second half on a 10-0 run to grab their first lead since the 18:33 mark of the opening half. Southwestern answered back and regained the lead and marched the advantage out to six points on a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Ben Stiver with 4:05 remaining.
A quick 7-0 spurt by the Gents gave the squad back the lead and this time for good. A Cheramie knocked down a jumper with 2:47 left to regain the advantage for the Maroon and White.
Centenary closed the contest on an 11-5 run to capture the victory and force the third meeting with TLU this season. The two squads have split the previous meetings this season holding home-court advantage.
The Gents finished the night shooting 48.3 percent from the field and was 73.7 percent from the charity stripe. SU connected on half its shots from the floor and was 75 percent from the free-throw line.
Ryan Ogden and Chris Lee led Southwestern with 13 points each as the Pirates finished the season with a 15-11 mark.
