GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Winston-Salem State jumped out to an 11-point halftime lead and held off a late charge as the undefeated Rams defeated host Tusculum College 74-70 Monday night at Pioneer Arena.

WSSU (7-0) remains as one of nine undefeated NCAA Division II team in the nation with Monday's victory.

LaMar Monger led the Rams with 17 points, while Justin Glover and Marcus Wells accounted for 11 and 10 points, respectively. WSSU's Stephon Platt added seven points, seven rebounds and blocked four shots.

Tusculum's Justin Steigerwald accounted for 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including a career-best 5-of-6 from three-pointer territory. He also posted six assists and blocked two shots. Jordan Davidson finished with 16 points, while Tommy Klempin added 13 points and seven rebounds, while Larry Smith posted 10 points and four assists in the loss for the Pioneers (5-5).

WSSU closed out the first half with a 15-5 run over the last 8:04 of the period to take a 43-32 lead into the locker room.

Michael Bland canned a layup 18 seconds into the second half to give the Rams their biggest lead of the night at 45-32. Tusculum would chip away at the deficit, scoring next seven points, including a three-pointer and a layup by Steigerwald and a bucket by Smith as the Pioneers trailed 45-39 with 17:53 remaining.

The Rams upped their advantage back to double-digits at 55-44 after a Tyre Desmore jumper with 14:21 left on the clock. The Pioneers responded eight unanswered points over a span of 2:01, thanks to a pair of treys from Steigerwald and two free throws from Davidson as Tusculum now trailed 55-52 at the 12:20 mark.

Joe Thompson's offensive rebound and put-back with 10:44 left gave the Rams a 57-52 advantage. TC would trim the WSSU lead to one following another Steigerwald trifecta and Smith jumper to make the score 60-59.

Back and forth it went WSSU would get a basket to go up by three, while Tusculum would answer with two points of its own to trail by one again, including 64-63 on a layup by Klempin with 5:43 remaining.

But every Tusculum push seemed to be answered by Winston-Salem State. WyKevin Bazemore buried two free throws, while Bland converted a jumper as the Rams led 68-64 with 4:45 on the scoreboard.

Klempin pulled the Pioneers to within one at 70-68 with his layup with 2:47 remaining. WSSU's Marcus Wells missed the front end of a one-and-bonus and TC came down with the rebound. TC got two looks at the bucket on its next trip down the floor. But Glover blocked a Davidson shot in the paint and Platt came down with the rebound for the Rams. Platt converted a layup with 1:04 left and was fouled on the shot. He missed the free throw and Vest scored on his driving layup with 33.3 seconds remaining and trailing 72-68.

The Pioneers were forced to foul sending Glover to the line. He rimmed out the first three throw, but made the second with 17.9 seconds left, leading 73-70.

Tusculum's Dionte Grey attempted a three-pointer from the left wing, but his attempt came up shot and was hauled in by Platt and was fouled. He made one of his two free throws with 5.8 seconds left to seal the win.

"The game was decided on our inability to defend the drive in the first half, and our inability to play defense without our hands which put them on the line 29 times," said Tusculum head coach Michael Jones. "We missed free throws and layups and gave them 10 offensive rebounds. Those are things we talked about all week in preparation for this game. Nothing they did surprised us. We made mental errors, and you can't make them against a really good basketball team."

The Rams shot 22-of-29 from the free throw line for 75.9 percent, including a sizzling 16-of-18 (88.9%) in the first half. Tusculum shot 55 percent from the stripe (11-of-20) and were out-rebounded 35-28, including 10-5 on the offensive glass.

"We tried to make the ESPN highlight-pass a couple times tonight instead of making the simple play," Jones added. "We have a tendency to do that, and I think that comes from adjusting to playing a bit quicker. It's gotten better, but it's not where we need to be yet."

Tusculum's rally in the second half was sparked by sizzling shooting as TC went 15-of-24 from the floor in the second half for 62.5 percent. The Pioneers finished the game shooting 52.9 percent, including 5-of-9 from beyond the arc (55.6%). WSSU shot 46.2 percent from the floor.

The two teams each committed 19 turnovers, while the WSSU bench outscored Tusculum's by a 21-10 margin.

Tusculum returns to the basketball court in 16 days as they take on nationally-ranked and undefeated Lincoln Memorial University (12-0, 2-0 SAC) on Wednesday, Jan. 4th in Harrogate, Tenn. It will be the 159th meeting between the two East Tennessee rivals.

- TC -