SALISBURY, N.C. --- Catawba College erased a 14-point deficit in the second half as the Indians edged visiting Tusculum College 93-89 in overtime Saturday afternoon at Goodman Gym in South Atlantic Conference men's basketball action.
The Catawba win snaps a four-game losing streak to the Pioneers and ends TC's three-year winning streak in Salisbury.
Kijuan Arrington led Catawba with 28 points off the bench, including his game-tying layup with 1:04 remaining in regulation to send the game into extra time. Arrington led five Catawba players in double-figure scoring, including 18 points by Chance Rucker, Tyrece Little's dozen and 10 points each by Elon Edwards and Vismantas Marijosiu.
Tusculum sophomore Jalen Walker led the Pioneers with his 20 points off the bench, while junior Darius Carter added 16 points. Sophomore Matt Shown tallied a career-high 15 points while junior Keith Jumper accounted for 10 markers, all coming in the second half.
Tusculum (1-10, 0-6 SAC) jumped out to a 13-2 advantage to start the game en route to a 42-32 lead at halftime. TC vaulted out to its largest lead of the afternoon at 52-38 at the 16:29 mark of the second half, following a three-pointer by senior guard Addison Flynn.
Catawba (2-6, 2-3 SAC) chipped away at the deficit with a 9-1 run thanks to five points from Arrington, a layup from Troy Owen and a pair of Rucker free throws as the Indians trailed 53-47 with 13:32 to go in regulation. Tusculum would get the lead back out to eight (55-47) following a basket by Jumper at the 11:42 mark. Both teams, who were shooting below 40 percent at this point in the contest, caught fire as the Pioneers and Indians scored on the next 11 trips down the floor.
TC led 65-58 following a BJ Fisher layup with 8:15 to go, but Catawba put together an 8-2 spurt that included two 3-pointers from Mariljosiu as the Pioneers' 14-point lead was whittled to one at 67-66 with seven minutes remaining in the period. Tusculum pushed its lead back to six at 76-70 following a Walker three-pointer and two Carter free throws with 3:49 remaining.
The Pioneers would slip into a shooting slump for the remainder of the half as TC missed a pair of field goal attempts, two free throw tries and a costly turnover. Catawba on the other hand converted on a Marijosiu dunk, a free throw each by Edwards and Rucker, and Arrington's game-tying bucket to put contest into overtime.
Catawba took its first lead of the entire game when Little buried a pair of free throws 50 seconds into overtime. Walker converted with a three-point play with 3:41 to go in overtime as the Pioneers regained the lead at 79-78.
Catawba followed with six straight points over the next 1:03 as Arrington converted on his two free throw attempts, followed by a Rucker layup and a tip-in from Little as the Indians led 84-79 with 2:28 left in overtime.
Walker knocked down a jumper on TC's ensuing possession, but Little made one of two free throws and blocked a Walker layup that resulted into a transition basket the other way for Arrington and Catawba as the host led 87-81 with 1:26 to go.
Fagan cut the deficit in half (87-84) as he buried his second trey of the game with 1:06 remaining. Catawba would work the clock down on their next time down the floor and Arrington lunged a dagger into Tusculum's heart with a three-pointer that beat the shot clock and a 90-84 Indians' lead with 34 seconds remaining. Shown scored on a rebound and put-back with 21 seconds left to trail by four again (90-86). Edwards was fouled as he made his two free throws a second later.
TC still battled as Walker connected on his third 3-pointer of the game with 13 seconds left. But Arrington would put the game out of reach making one of two free throws to complete the Catawba comeback.
Arrington finished the game shooting 10-of-19 from the floor, including 3-of-7 from beyond the arc. Rucker fired 7-of-10 from the field, while Little made 10 of his 12 free throw shots. Shown shot 7-of-11 on afternoon as he finished with eight rebounds, including six offensive boards. TC redshirt freshman Chase Mounce added seven points and eight rebounds, while Fagan tallied eight markers in the loss. TC senior JD Miller added five rebounds in his 12 minutes of action, while Flynn, TC's leading scorer entering today's action, posted a season-low six points as he was plagued with foul trouble before exiting the game with his fifth personal in the final moments of the second period.
Catawba finished the game shooting 48 percent from the floor, including 20-of-34 (58.8%) in the second half and overtime period combined. TC finished shooting 42 percent from the field, but went 5-of-13 in the overtime period (38.5%). Catawba, which entered the game shooting 54 percent at the free throw line for the season, made 29-of-39 from the stripe (74.4%), including 8-of-10 in the overtime period.
Tusculum shot 59 percent at the foul line, including just 4-of-11 after halftime (36.3%). Tusculum won the rebound battle by a 49-40 margin including 24-12 on the offensive boards. Catawba also finished with 10 blocked shots in the contest, including five by Little to go along with his game-high 10 rebounds.
The Pioneers attempted 81 field goal attempts in the game, which are tied for the fifth most in school history and were 20 more than Catawba's 61 attempts from the field. Tusculum outscored the Indians in the paint (42-38), but Catawba dominated in bench scoring by a 73-37 margin.
The Pioneers will continue its five-game road swing on Monday when they take on NCAA Division I East Tennessee State University at 7 p.m. in Johnson City. It will be the first regular season meeting between Tusculum and ETSU since the 1957-58 campaign.
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