HARTSVILLE, S.C. --- Trey Marshall scored 30 points in leading the Coker College men's basketball team to an 81-66 South Atlantic Conference victory over Tusculum College Saturday afternoon at the DeLoach Center.
The Cobras (5-5, 1-5 SAC) snap a four-game losing streak and led wire-to-wire in Saturday's contest against the Pioneers (6-4, 2-3 SAC).
Marshall finished the game shooting 8-of-11 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from three-point territory and 11-of-13 from the free throw line. Teammate Donte Samuels added 14 points and six rebounds, while Aubrey Daniel accounted for 11 points in the win.
Tusculum junior Chase Mounce led the Pioneers with 14 points and nine rebounds, while senior Matt Shown posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
TC senior guard Darius Carter tallied 12 points, leaving him just nine points shy of reaching the 1,000-point plateau for his career. He is looking to become the 23rd 1,000-point scorer in Tusculum history.
The Cobras connected on 10 three-pointers, while Tusculum was limited to four 3-pointers on the afternoon.
Coker scored the first six points of the game and bolted out to a 22-10 lead sparked by four 3-pointers and a Marshall three-point play.
The Cobras led by as many as 15 points (31-16) before Tusculum chipped away at the deficit and got a Zach Hartle jumper in the final minute to trail 38-30 at halftime.
A Mounce jumper pulled the Pioneers to within six points to start the second half as TC trailed 38-32. But six straight points from the Cobras moved their advantage out to a dozen at 44-32 with 16:32 left in the half.
With Coker leading 47-34, the Pioneers made a strong charge with a 13-4 spurt to trim the deficit to 51-48 with 10:39 remaining in the game.
The Cobras responded with an 8-1 run to lead 60-49 with 7:24 to go. Tusculum cut the Coker lead to 60-53 following a pair of Mounce free throws. But a 7-0 run capped off by a Aubrey McDaniel trey pushed the Coker lead back out to double digits at 67-53 with 4:26 remaining.
The Cobras would maintain that double-digit advantage for the remainder of the game to record their first SAC win of the season.
Coker finished the game shooting 47.9 percent, while the Pioneers were held to just 32.4 percent, including 11-of-37 (29.7%) in the second half. Coker also shot 25-of-37 from the free throw line, including 22-of-33 in the second half alone. TC fired 16-of-22 from the charity stripe for the game (72.7%).
Tusculum dominated the glass by a 49-35 margin, including 25-9 on the offensive glass, resulting into 19 second chance points.
The Pioneers return to action Wednesday, January 6th when they host arch-rival Carson-Newman University for an 8 p.m. contest.
- TC -
