GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Brevard College rained a dozen three-pointers, while holding off a furious late rally as the Tornados defeated host Tusculum College 77-72 Thursday night at Pioneer Arena in South Atlantic Conference men's basketball action.

BC's Vincent Dombroski tied a school single-game record as he buried seven 3-pointers in his career-high 26-point performance. Josh Roper and Gaither Hendrix added 16 points each, while Drew Schauss added nine points and a game-high eight rebounds.

Tusculum junior Tommy Klempin erupted for 16 of his 18 points in the second half to lead the Pioneers. Klempin shot 5-of-9 from the floor, as he didn't miss a shot in the final period as he went 4-for-4 and 8-of-8 from the free throw line.

TC junior guard Justin Steigerwald tallied a dozen points, seven assists and two blocked shots, while senior Rob Troutman finished with 12 points, six rebounds and six assists in the loss. Sophomore JD Miller added nine points off the bench, while Ryan Slusher and Kevin Vest posted eight and seven points, respectively.

The Tornados, the defending SAC Tournament Champions, led wire-to-wire opening the game with a 20-9 run in the opening 9:53, including five 3-pointers. Tusculum trimmed the deficit with a 6-0 run, including a pair of Matt Darnell lay-ups and two free throws from Troutman as BC led 20-15 with 6:45 remaining before halftime.

BC would follow with a 13-4 spurt over the next 4:04 as the Tornados made 7-of-8 shots, including a pair of threes by Hendrix fro a 36-22 advantage. TC responded with five points by Miller as the Pioneers trailed 38-28 at the intermission.

BC took its largest lead of the game at 51-32 with 15:01 remaining, following a 9-2 spurt that included three trifectas in a row by Dombrowski.

But the remainder of the game, Tusculum would peck away at that lead, trimming it to single-digits thanks to a 13-2 run, including six points by Klempin and five markers from Slusher as the Pioneers now trailed 53-45 with 9:38 left.

After a Dombroski lay-up with 7:34 left to move Brevard out to a 58-47 lead, TC followed with an 8-2 run that included four free throws by Klempin and a pair of Vest baskets.

Roper bounced BC out to an eight point lead (65-57) following his three-pointer with 3:25 remaining. TC continued to battle as Steigerwald scored a driving lay-up and Klempin canned a pair of free throws as TC trailed 66-62 with 1:04 remaining.

On the ensuing in-bounds pass, Tusculum forced a turnover, but failed to convert the opportunity as Hendrix came down with the rebound and was fouled as he made his two free throws with 47 seconds remaining.

Steigerwald was fouled on the next possession as he buried his two free throws with 42 seconds left.

TC was unsuccessful on its next two possessions as Roper and Dombroski made both of their free throw shots to lead 72-64 with 27 seconds remaining.

The Pioneers made one last push though as Klempin came up with an offensive rebound and put-back with 20 seconds left and Slusher knocked down a 23-foot trey as TC trailed 73-69 with 13 seconds left.

Schauss was fouled as he made his two free throws to make it a 75-69 lead for Brevard with seven seconds left. Steigerwald converted a three-point play with 2.2 seconds left to make it a one-possession contest. TC was forced to foul again, sending Ryson Felder to the stripe where he made his only two charity shots of the night to seal the victory.

Tusculum shot 50 percent from the floor, including 15-of-28 in the second half (53.6%). Brevard was limited to 44 percent shooting, including 8-of-25 in the second half.

Brevard finished the night shooting 44 percent from the field, including 12-of-25 from beyond the arc (48%), including Dombroski's 7-of-11 effort from the long-range.

BC shot 84 percent from the foul line, including a sizzling 18-of-21 in the second half. TC, who leads the SAC in free throw shooting, added to their tally firing 84.2 percent (16-of-19), including 12-of-13 in the final period.

As much as BC was firing from the perimeter, Tusculum dominated the paint, out-scoring the Tornados by a 38-10 margin, including 22-2 in the second half.

Tusculum returns to action on Wednesday as the Pioneers host nationally-ranked Lincoln Memorial University for an 8 p.m. contest at Pioneer Arena.

- TC -