GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum College men's basketball team used a 25-5 run in the second half to erase a 21-point deficit as the Pioneers upset seventh-ranked King University 99-94 Monday night at Pioneer Arena.

Tusculum (6-2) ends a six-game drought against the Tornado (7-2), while posting the program's first victory over a top-10 nationally-ranked team. TC's last win against any ranked opponent came against No. 25 Catawba College on Feb. 7, 2009.

Tusculum placed five players in double-figure scoring led by Darius Carter's 25 points, including a career-best five 3-pointers and shot 10-of-12 from the free throw line. Zach Davis added a season-high 16 points, while Matt Shown contributed 15 markers on 7-of-10 shooting to go along with his eight rebounds off the bench. Chase Mounce posted 14 points and nine rebounds, while Cory Fagan tallied 10 points in the Tusculum victory.

King's Hunter LeVau had a sensational night as he accounted for 23 points, including 7-of-11 from three-point territory. C.J. Good added 18 points with four 3-pointers and James Scales finished with a dozen points for the visitors.

It was a tale of two completely different halves. In the first period, King torched the nets with 52 points as they connected on 11 three-pointers and forced the Pioneers into 10 turnovers, resulting into 13 points of those miscues. In the first half, King shot 50 percent from the floor, while TC was held to just 37 percent as the Tornado led at the break 52-36.

The rout looked to be on for King as it opened the second half with a 9-4 run to take its largest lead of the night at 61-40 with 17:33 to go following a three-pointer from Good.

The Pioneers chipped away at the King lead with a 17-7 spurt as TC trimmed the deficit to 68-57 following a Shown layup with 12:15 remaining.

King's Nathanael Hughes halted the TC run with a three-pointer, but the Pioneers answered with 20 unanswered points over the next 5:51 to take a 77-71 lead with 6:25 remaining in the contest. During that stretch, Tusculum shot 8-of-13 from the floor with a pair of three-pointers, while also going 2-of-3 at the foul line. King missed 11 straight shots, including six 3-point tries.

LeVeau ended the King drought with a three-pointer, but Gunnar Beamer answer with a trey of his own. Derrick Pope buried a trifecta for the visitors, but Shown answered with a layup. LeVeau connected again from beyond the arc as the Tornado trailed 82-80 with 5:13 remaining.

The two teams traded three-point makes from TC's Carter and King's LeVeau as the Pioneers held on to the 85-83 lead with 2:02 remaining.

The Pioneers made four straight free throws to move up by six once again at 89-83 with 90 seconds left on the clock.

Scales made two free throws 15 seconds later to cut the deficit to 89-85. King looked to extend the game by sending the Pioneers to the free throw line. Kendall Patterson was successful on two of his next four trips to the stripe, while the Pioneer defense forced a turnover and a missed shot on King's next two possessions. Fagan made a pair of free throws with 48 seconds left to move the lead back out to eight (93-85).

Calvin Walker made a pair of free throws for the visitors, while Patterson was fouled again as he went 1-of-2 from the stripe as TC led 94-87 with 41 seconds left. Good made bucket with 31 seconds remaining and Carter followed by going 1-of-2 for TC as the Pioneers led 95-89 with 27 seconds left.

King's Mack Owens made a layup, while Davis answered with two free throws for a 97-91 lead with 16 seconds left. Walker made the 19th trey of the night for King to pull the Tornado to within a possession at 97-94 with 10 seconds to go. But Davis was fouled with seven seconds left as he put the game out of reach with his two free throws for the Pioneer victory.

Tusculum, who committed 10 turnovers in the first half, only made two in the final 20 minutes. The Pioneers scored a season-high 63 points in the second half, while King finished with 42 points and shot 14-of-38 from the field in the frame (36.8%).

TC finished shooting 44.1 percent from the floor, while King fired 43.2 percent, including 19-of-41 from three-point land (46.3%). Tusculum also out-rebounded the Tornado by a 49-38 margin, including 30-15 in the second half.

The Pioneers (2-1 SAC) return to action on Wednesday when they host red-hot Lenoir-Rhyne University (7-1, 3-1 SAC) for an 8 p.m. South Atlantic Conference contest at Pioneer Arena.

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