GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Kyle Moore accounted for 25 points, including seven 3-pointers to lead the Tusculum College men's basketball team to a 68-59 South Atlantic Conference victory over Newberry College Wednesday night at Pioneer Arena.
The Pioneers (15-10, 9-5 SAC) record their third straight win, while completing the season sweep over Newberry (8-16, 3-10 SAC). With the win, Tusculum moves into a tie for second place in the conference and are a half game behind league-leader Brevard College, who comes to Pioneer Arena on Saturday.
Moore shot 8-of-12 from the floor, including 7-of-11 from three-point territory. Jimmy Boone added 10 points, while Justin Steigerwald nearly recorded a triple-double with his nine points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Rob Troutman tallied nine points and four assists in the victory.
The Newberry duo of Ray Robinson and Danny Huffor finished with 16 points each, while Stephane Bakinde tallied a dozen markers and blocked five shots in the loss.
Newberry jumped out to a 15-10 midway through the first half as Robinson sparked the run with eight of his 16 points on the night. Tusculum answered with nine unanswered points as Steigerwald converted a three-point play and Dionte Grey added a pair of buckets as TC led 19-15 with 9:18 left the half. It would be a lead the Pioneers would not relinquish as Tusculum carried a 32-28 advantage into the locker room.
TC used an 8-0 spurt in the second period to move out to its first double-digit lead of the night at 45-35 as Boone and Moore connected on three-pointers and Troutman converted a three-point play with 10:24 left in the game.
Newberry responded with a 7-1 run, with all the offensive coming from Huffor, including a lay-up with 8:15 remaining to make the score 46-42.
Tusculum ran its advantage back to double-figures with seven unanswered points as Josh Bennett knocked down a pair of free throws and Moore added a three-pointer as the Pioneers led 53-42 with 6:42 left on the clock.
Moore connected on his seven trey of the night and Bennett added a slam dunk to put the game out of reach.
Tusculum shot 45.7 percent from the floor, including 10-of-20 in the second half. Newberry fired on a 42 percent clip, but was limited to just 9-of-27 shooting in the second period (33.3%).
- TC -
