ANDERSON, S.C. --- The Anderson University men's basketball team rallied from a nine-point deficit to defeat visiting Tusculum College 75-63 Wednesday night at the Abney Athletic Center.

The Trojans (12-3, 7-0 SAC) win their fifth straight game and remain undefeated in South Atlantic Conference play, while holding onto sole possession of first place in the league.

Anderson used a 12-0 run early in the second half and a 9-0 spark later in the game to seal the win.

AU's Nick Trull led the charge with 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including five 3-pointers, while Denzail Jones and Jo'el Lamb contributed 16 and 13 points, respectively.

Kevin Vest led the Pioneers (7-8, 4-3 SAC) with his 23 points, shooting 8-of-13 from the floor and 5-of-8 from three-point territory. He also hauled in a game-high seven rebounds and posted four steals in the loss. Justin Steigerwald added 11 points and six assists, while Tommy Klempin and Darius Carter finished with seven markers each.

Tusculum came out on fire to start the game and used an 11-3 run to take a 23-14 lead with six minutes remaining in the opening period. But the Trojans got the hot-hand and the Pioneers suffered major foul trouble to key personnel as starters Jordan Davidson, Klempin and Vest picked up two fouls each and AU closed out the half with a 9-2 run over the final 3:34 as Tusculum led 27-25 at the intermission.

The Pioneers moved back out to a six-point lead early in the second half following a three-pointer by Vest and a Steigerwald layup. But the Trojans, fresh off Saturday's overtime win over top-ranked Lincoln Memorial, scored 12 unanswered points to take a 40-34 lead with 13:46 left in the contest. The run was highlighted by a three-pointer each by Lamb, Jones and Tyrell McDowell.

Davidson, Tusculum's leading scorer (15.2 ppg), notched his first points of the fray at the 13:23 mark to end the Anderson run.

With Anderson leading 53-49 at the 7:50 mark, the Trojans scored nine straight points, including four markers by Trull to increase the hosts' advantage to 62-49 with 4:16 left. The Pioneers would not be able to trim the deficit to single digits for the remainder of the contest.

Tusculum won by the shooting and rebound battles as the Pioneers fired 48.9 percent versus Anderson's 44.4 percent and out-rebounded the Trojans by a 30-28 margin. But AU posted 13 offensive rebounds and scored 18 points off of Tusculum's 21 turnovers, including 12 points off of TC miscues in the second half.

"The foul trouble obviously hurt us with three of our starters on the bench (in the first half), but we still have to make some plays. We're making way to many turnovers and we're giving up to many offensive rebounds and if you let a good team like Anderson shoot nine more shots and take 10 more free throws, you are going to give them way too many opportunities," said Tusculum head coach Michael Jones.

Tusculum, the SAC's top free throw shooting team, continued that trend by firing 75 percent (12-of-16). Anderson went 15-of-26 from the stripe (57.7%), but shot 12-of-24 from three-point territory, including 9-of-11 in the second half (81.8%).

Davidson would finish with five points for the Pioneers before fouling out.

The Pioneers will continue their season-long four-game road-trip this Saturday when they take on Mars Hill College for a 4 p.m. contest at Stanford Arena.

- TC -