2003 SCAC MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
SEMIFINALS

#2 TRINITY UNIVERSITY 70, #3 SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 59
(Game Box)

Trinity University's Jason Morris had 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists to pace the Tigers in Friday's 70-59 semifinal victory over Southwestern University. Trinity (20-7) moves on to the championship game of the inaugural SCAC Men's Basketball Tournament where they will face Centre College at 8 p.m. on Saturday.

Southwestern ends its season at 18-9.

Southwestern scored the first basket of the game, but Trinity answered with a 12-0 run and never trailed again. The Tigers held a 32-24 lead at the intermission.

The Pirates made an early run in the second, cutting the Trinity lead to 37-36 on a layup by
Dan Slezak with 13:14 remaining. But the Tigers responded with a 14-7 run over the next four minutes, capped by a three-point field goal by Chad Stroberg with 9:01 remaining to take a 51-43 lead. Southwestern never got closer than five points the rest of the game.

In addition to Morris, Adam Luton had 11 points and five rebounds, Stroberg followed with 10 points, and Ross Burt had seven points and eight rebounds for Trinity.

For Southwestern, Hugh Arrington and Justin Westmoreland each had 11 points, and Slezak had six points and a team-high six rebounds.
 

#4 CENTRE COLLEGE 88, #1 DEPAUW UNIVERSITY 74
(Game Box)

The first No. 1 seed to fall in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Basketball Championship was the DePauw men as the Tigers' season came to an end at the hands of Centre College 88-74 in Friday night's semifinal round.

The Tigers finished the season with an 18-8 record while Centre advanced to the Saturday's championship game and improved to 18-8.

DePauw trailed much of the first half and were down 37-33 at the break. Centre pushed the lead to six, but the Tigers closed it to two with a couple of baskets from Joe Ringger. A three-pointer from Rob King, a basket by Coy Zerhusen and a three-point play by Devin Sona extended the lead to 10 at 47-37 just three minutes into the half.

Midway through the half, Jeremy Bettis scored three straight baskets and Alex Stewart added a free throw to put the Tigers ahead 62-60 with 8:03 left. DePauw held its last lead at 66-65 after Stewart's basket with 7:04 remaining.

Centre then scored the next seven points to take a 72-66 advantage with 5:38 left. Wes Thornhill countered with a three  13 seconds later, but the Colonels put the game away with a 14-2 run down the stretch.

Sona paced the Colonels with 26 followed by Jon Ortega with 21, James Booker with 16 and Rob King with 12. Zerhusen finished with 12 rebounds and seven assists.

Ringger led the Tigers with 17 points and also grabbed 10 rebounds. His final board came with 19 seconds left and was the 761st of his career which broke the SCAC career mark of 760 held by John Garber of Millsaps (1993-97). Bettis also posted a double-double with 13 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Joey Hanger scored a career-high 16 and Alex Stewart added 14.