BREVARD, N.C. --- Justin Steigerwald scored a career-high 23 points to lead the Tusculum College men's basketball team to a 74-63 South Atlantic Conference victory at Brevard College Saturday afternoon at Boshamer Gymnasium,

The Pioneers (4-4, 1-0 SAC) have won four of their last five games, while head coach Michael Jones is victorious in his return to Brevard, where he coached the Tornados for the last 12 seasons.

Steigerwald went 10-for-13 from the floor, including 3-of-5 from three-point territory. Jordan Davidson posted 17 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots, while Tommy Klempin added 17 markers and seven boards. Klempin was a perfect 6-of-6 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the free throw line.

As impressive as Steigerwald's offensive performance was, Coach Jones was also pleased with his defensive performance against BC's leading scorer Gaither Hendrix. Hendrix, who entered the game averaging 19.9 points per game, was held to only five markers.

"Obviously, we probably don't win without his (Steigerwald) points," said Jones. "But I can promise you, we don't win if he doesn't hold the third-leading scorer in the conference to five points. Justin did a great job in playing hard and being prepared."

Tusculum finished the contest shooting 56.9 percent from the field, including 14-of-23 in the first half (60.9%) as the Pioneers led 34-31 at the break. BC shot only 38.7 percent in the first half, but the Tornados out-rebounded the Pioneers 18-13 at the intermission, including 9-2 on the offensive glass.

"That was a concern for us in the first half and we talked about that in the locker room. We made some good adjustments and holding them to zero offensive rebounds in the second half was huge for us."

Tusculum jumped out to a 48-41 lead with 13:28 left in the game, following five straight points by Steigerwald. BC would follow with 9-2 run to tie the game at 50-50 on a Jerlmichael Tanner three-pointer with 9:30 left.

Steigerwald responded with a three-pointer and a Davidson jumper to regain the lead at 55-50 with 8:20 remaining.

Brevard (1-9, 0-2 SAC) would trim the TC lead to one three occasions down the stretch, including 64-63 with 3:25 on the clock. But the Pioneers would put the game away with a Klempin lay-up and a 15-foot baseline jumper by Steigerwald to a spark a 10-0 run to close out the contest. Tusculum used a 10-0 run to seal Thursday's win over Lees-McRae (the conclusion of the Nov. 22 game that was halted due to wet floor conditions).

Tusculum out-rebounded the Tornados 17-10 margin in second half and would win the overall board battle, 30-28.

Brevard's Darius Moose led the Tornados with a career-best 22 points, while Drew Schauss and Tanner added 16 and 14 points, respectively.

TC's Darius Carter added five points off the bench, while Larry Smith contributed four points and a season-high eight assists.

Tusculum returns to action next Saturday when the Pioneers host Newberry College for a 4 p.m. league tilt at Pioneer Arena. It will be a rematch of last year's SAC Tournament quarterfinal as the Pioneers won 67-62 in triple overtime.

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