HICKORY, N.C. --- Jon Hathcock hit two free throws with 1.7 seconds left to give Lenoir-Rhyne University a 56-54 victory over Tusculum College in a South Atlantic Conference men's basketball game Wednesday night at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium.

Jeff Thomas and Bryce Hawkins shared the lead in scoring for the Bears (4-21, 3-14 SAC) with 20 points apiece, with Thomas hitting 5-for-5 from three-point range and Hawkins nailing 4-for-5 from beyond the arc. Overall, Lenoir-Rhyne shot 9-for-16 (56.3 percent) on three-pointers in the contest, accounting for just under half of its 56 points.

Tommy Klempin paced the Pioneers (11-16, 8-9 SAC) with 12 points, followed by Rob Troutman and Kevin Vest with 11 points apiece. With the setback, Tusculum drops into a four-way tie for fourth place in the SAC standings with Carson-Newman, Brevard and Newberry heading into Saturday's regular-season finale at Mars Hill.

Tusculum, which trailed 50-45 with four minutes remaining, tied the game at 50-50 on a steal and layup by Vest with 2:34 left. A layup by Alex Watkins restored Lenoir-Rhyne's lead at 52-50 with 2:01 to go, and the Pioneers cut the deficit to 52-51 following a foul shot by Justin Steigerwald with 1:47 remaining.

After an offensive foul gave possession back to the Pioneers, Troutman was fouled attempting a three-pointer with 1:01 left. He his all three tries to give the Pioneers a 54-52 lead, but Nathaniel Shaw answered with a layup to knot the contest at 54-54 with 42 seconds left.

The Pioneers had several looks at the go-ahead basket in the final seconds, but could not convert and Hathcock was fouled as he gathered a rebound. He hit both free throws to give the Bears a 56-54 lead, and Troutman's midcourt heave at the buzzer bounced off the iron to allow Lenoir-Rhyne to escape with the win.

Lenoir-Rhyne jumped to a 19-9 lead behind 10 points from Thomas, and led by 10 points on two other occasions before Vest hit back-to-back three-pointers to shave the Bear advantage to 29-25 with 4:42 left in the first half. The Bears led 32-26 at halftime, shooting 57.1 percent (12-for-21) overall and 6-for-9 from three-point range. Thomas led all players with 13 points for the Bears while Vest and Steigerwald paced the Pioneers with six points apiece.

Tusculum trailed by as many as nine points early in the second half, but rallied to take a 41-40 lead on Vest's third three-pointer of the game with 9:23 to go. Meanwhile, Klempin went 4-for-6 from the field and 4-for-5 from the foul line in the second half to account for all 12 of his points in the contest.

The Pioneers finished at an even 50 percent (19-for-38) from the field, including 4-for-8 from the three-point line, and shot 12-for-17 (70.6 percent) from the foul line, below the team's SAC-leading average of 78.1 percent and snapping a streak of 10 straight games shooting 73 percent or better at the free-throw stripe.

The Pioneers had a 24-18 edge in rebounding, led by a career-high seven boards from Brett Williams, and committed 12 turnovers to 10 by the Bears. With his 11 points, Troutman moved within 30 of becoming the 22nd player in school history to score 1,000 career points.

On Saturday, the Pioneers will travel to Mars Hill to wrap up the regular season. Game time is 4 p.m. at Stanford Arena.

- TC -