Rome, Ga. - Jas Rogers scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half and Brent Jennings recorded a double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds as No. 2-seed Southern Polytechnic State University survived a game effort from No. 7-seed Southern Wesleyan University to score a 76-74 victory in the quarterfinal round of the Southern States Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship.

The Runnin' Hornets (24-5) advance to tomorrow's 4 p.m. semifinal against third-seeded Auburn University-Montgomery, a 62-59 winner over Shorter College earlier in the afternoon.

Southern Wesleyan exits the tournament with a 13-15 record.

Southern Poly withstood 24 points from Southern Wesleyan star Nick Lagroone, who had set his school's single-game scoring record last week with a 48-point outing.

Lagroone, the SSAC's leading scorer and a 2009-10 All-SSAC selection, hit four threes in the first half and scored 20 of his points in the frame as the upstart Warriors took a 34-30 lead into halftime.

Rogers, the 2009-10 SSAC Player of the Year, came to life in the second half. He gave Southern Poly its first lead of the second half, 45-44, with a three-point play at the 14:50 mark. After a turnover by Lagroone on Wesleyan's ensuing possession, Rogers drained one of his three treys on the night, putting the Hornets ahead, 48-44.

Another Rogers' triple capped a 10-0 Southern Poly run that increased its lead to 74-62 with 4:39 remaining, but the Warriors had one last run in them.

Nathan Wilson scored five straight points, Tae Roebuck scored a bucket and Brandon Jankowy drained a three as Southern Wesleyan cut into the Southern Poly advantage. Wilson scored again, this time off a feed from Jankowy, to complete a 12-1 spurt for the Warriors and make the score 75-74 in favor of the Hornets with 1:38 to play.

But with the ball down by the same score with under 30 seconds to play, Wilson saw his three-point attempt with seconds remaining go begging, and Southern Poly's Darrien Beachem made 1-of-2 from the foul line with 0.1 seconds remaining to seal Southern Wesleyan's fate.

Wilson finished with 18 points for Southern Wesleyan and Jankowy and Roebuck chipped in with 15 and 13 points, respectively.

Southern Poly's Xavier Dawson scored just four points, but dished out five assists to tie for the team lead. Jennings added five steals to his game totals for the Hornets.