GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Zach Davis poured in a career-high 31 points to lead Tusculum College to a thrilling 103-98 South Atlantic Conference victory over Newberry College Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Arena in men's basketball action.

Tusculum (7-5, 3-4 SAC) used a 17-3 run in the first half, but had to hold off a furious charge by the Wolves (9-5, 4-4 SAC) and recorded its first win over Newberry since 2011.

Davis finished the game shooting a sizzling 12-of-15 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from three-point territory. Davis contributed 18 points in the second half, while making eight of his nine shots as the Pioneers out-gunned the top scoring offense in the SAC.

TC placed five players in double figures including Davis (31), Javon Price (15), Darius Carter (14), Cory Fagan (11) and a career-best 11 markers by junior Vincent Brown. Brown provided 15 quality minutes off the bench as he connected on three treys and tallied an assist and a steal.

Tusculum jumped out of the gate scoring the first 11 points of the contest in the opening 3:21. The Wolves, who lead the nation in turnover forced with their frantic pace, had the tables turned on them early, as TC forced four turnovers on four steals during the 11-0 spurt.

But Newberry showed its resiliency and answered with 10 unanswered points and later tied the game at 13-13 on a three-point play from Xavier Holmes. The Pioneers got back-to-back buckets from Fagan and Carter to take a 17-13 advantage, a lead they would not surrender for the remainder of the contest.

Leading 26-23 with 7:39 left in the opening half, Tusculum opened up a 17-point lead thanks to its 17-3 spurt that covered five minutes late in the period Price scored five straight points for the Pioneers took its largest lead of the game at 19 (50-31) before Newberry James Ashby knocked down a three-pointer just before the intermission as Tusculum led 50-34 at halftime.

Tusculum forced 13 turnovers on 13 steals in the first half resulting into 21 points off those Newberry miscues. Tusculum shot a sizzling 54.1 percent, while Newberry was held to 36 percent in the opening 20 minutes.

In the second half, Newberry trimmed the deficit to single-digits using a 12-4 run in the first 3:59 to cut the Tusculum lead to 54-46 following a Xavier Hill three-pointer. TC answered the run with one of its own as the Pioneers utilized a 10-1 spurt which included consecutive trifectas by Brown a basket each from Davis and Kendall Patterson as Tusculum extended its advantage to 64-47 with 14:40 remaining.

Back came the Wolves with an 11-2 run including a DJ Copeland three-point play and three free throws from Hill as Newberry trailed 66-58 with 12:17 to go on the scoreboard.

Fagan snapped the Newberry run with a three-pointer to move the lead back out to double-digits at 69-58 with 11:54 left.

Following a Davis trey to give TC a 72-60 lead, the Wolves scored six straight points to cut the deficit in half at 72-66 with 10:14 remaining.

The Pioneers answered with another flurry, using a 10-3 run including five points from Davis and another Fagan trey as TC led 82-69 with 8:42 left on the clock.

But seven unanswered points from Newberry put the pressure on Tusculum again as the Pioneer lead was trimmed to 82-76 with 7:36 remaining. Chase Mounce scored on a layup after a timeout before Dhonte Ford drained a three-pointer to get the Wolves to within five (84-79) at the 7:10 mark of the second half.

With 6:06 remaining in regulation and Tusculum holding onto an 88-82 lead, the Pioneers went on a 7-1 run including layups from Carter and Price and three Matt Shown free throws as TC led by a dozen again at 95-83 with 4:18 remaining.

The Wolves weren't done though as they cut into the deficit with a 10-2 run over the next three minutes, including steal by Mason Spease in the backcourt, resulting in a Holmes layup with 57 seconds to as Newberry trailed 97-93. After a timeout, Newberry forced a turnover, but Holmes was charged with an illegal screen with 44.1 seconds left.

The Wolves extending the game by sending the Pioneers to the free throw line. Carter made a pair of free throws with 30.8 seconds left to give TC a 99-93 lead. But Brandon Taylor answered with a big three-pointer from the corner with 24.1 seconds to go.

Out of the timeout, Newberry put the press on again, but Tusculum got the ball into the front court to Carter who was fouled with 12.1 seconds left. He connected on both charity tosses to move the lead to five (101-96). Copeland was fouled going to the lane with 7.9 left as he made both free throws to make it a one possession contest (101-98). Tusculum inbounded to Carter in the backcourt, but he dribbled out of the pressure and was fouled with 4.4 seconds left. He connected on both free throws to shoot 6-of-6 at the line in the final 31 seconds to seal the victory.

Tusculum finished the game shooting 55.7 percent, including 19-of-33 in the second half (57.6%). The Pioneers connected on 11 three-pointers, shooting 41 percent from beyond the arc, while also firing 14-of-17 from the free throw stripe (82.4 percent).

Following torrid first half shooting, Newberry shot a sizzling 22-of-35 in the second half (62.9%) to finish the game at 50 percent on the night. The Wolves buried 13 three-pointers and fired 85 percent from the charity stripe.

Ronell Crockett led the way for Newberry with 18 points, Hill scored 13, while Holmes and Taylor contributed a dozen markers each. The Wolves out-scored the Pioneers in bench scoring by a 68-30 margin, but Tusculum won the board-battle by a 36-32 margin and outscored the Wolves 32-17 in fast-break points

Shown finished the game with seven points and a game-high nine rebounds. Patterson ended up with six points and established season-highs with seven assists and five steals. The five steals are tied for the 10th-best in TC single-game history.

Davis 12-of-15 shooting performance from the floor was the eighth-best single-game field goal percentage in Tusculum history (80%).

TC finished the game with 15 steals, which are tied for the seventh-most in school history and the most by a Pioneer team in 13 years.

Tusculum has started a brutal stretch of playing three games within the next five days. The Pioneers will be at Wingate University on Monday night for a 7 p.m. league contest.

- TC -