GEORGETOWN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran battled back from a five-point deficit early in the second half and eliminated Centenary College (La.) in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship for a third consecutive year with an 88-85 win Friday night at Southwestern University.

TLU, the two-time defending SCAC Tournament champion, met Centenary, the No. 6 seed, in the quarterfinal round for the first time after eliminating the Gents in the 2015 title game and in the 2016 semifinal round.

TLU (17-9) advances to the 2017 semifinal to face No. 2 seed Colorado College (11-14), who swept the season series with the Bulldogs, the No. 3 seed. TLU and Colorado College finished with identical 10-4 marks in the SCAC regular season. Tip-off Saturday is set for 7 p.m. in Southwestern's Robertson Center.

Against Centenary, Kouremetis (San Antonio/O'Connor) scored 12 points in the first half and 11 in the second half to finish with a TLU-best 23 points. He hit 13 of 16 free throws and made a pair of three-pointers.

Bulldog senior point guard Sterling Holmes (San Antonio/Antonian) scored all 18 of his points in the second half. Holmes hit two second-half threes and went 8-for-10 at the line.

Holmes hit a pair of free throws with 1.30 seconds to play to put the Bulldogs up three. Centenary's last-second three from long-range bounced hard off the backboard as the horn sounded.

Blake Ray (Kerrville/Tivy) and Matthew Gillette (Spring/Klein) chipped in 11 and 10 points, respectively. Holmes and Hamilton led the Bulldog in rebounds with seven each.

Zach Behr (Temple/Temple) contributed nine points, six rebounds and three assists.

James Sapp led Centenary with 25 points and 13 rebounds. Travion Kirkendoll and Treylan Matthews each scored 18.