BRISTOL, Tenn. --- CJ Good scored 19 points in leading the King University men's basketball team to an 83-78 win over in-state foe Tusculum College Wednesday night at the KU Student Center Complex.
    
The Tornado (4-5) avenge last month's 88-81 loss to the Pioneers (4-3) to split the season series in the 131st recorded meeting between the two schools.

Good paced four players in double figure scoring as Mack Owens finished with 13 points, while Noble Fahnbulleh and Derick Pope tallied 10 markers each.

Tusculum's Ronnie Baylark led the visitors with 18 points off the bench, including 17 in the second half.  Zach Hartle scored a career-best 16 points, including 4-of-6 shooting from three-point territory.  Cory Fagan added 15 points with four 3-pointers while Keaton Dotson and Kendall Patterson finished with nine and eight points, respectively.

Both teams shot 27-of-60 from the floor for 45 percent.  Tusculum connected on 15-of-37 (40.5 %) from three-point land, while the Tornado shot 8-of-21 (38.1%).

Using a stifling 2-3 zone defense, the Tornado limited the Pioneers in the paint out-scoring TC 24-14 and out-rebounded Tusculum 41-33, including 12-6 on the offensive boards resulting in a 15-3 advantage in second-chance points.  King also dominated at the free throw line as the Tornado went 21-of-32 from the charity stripe, including 20-of-25 (80%) in the second half.  Tusculum shot 9-of-13 from the line (69.2%).

King used a 10-0 run midway through the first half to take a 21-12 lead following a Dontae Campbell three-pointer with 10:07 remaining before halftime.  The Pioneers responded with 11 unanswered points of its own to retake the lead at 23-21 at the 7:34 mark, sparked by a Patterson trey and seven straight points from Hartle during the TC run.

King answered with an 8-0 spurt including treys from Good and Hunter LeVeau and a Pope dunk as the Tornado led 29-23 with 6:26 to go in the period.  Hartle continued his sizzling shooting as he hit consecutive three-pointers to extend his personal run to 13 consecutive points as TC trailed 33-29 with four minutes left before the intermission.

Pope connected on his second dunk of the half to extend the lead to 35-29, but the two teams would go ice cold as the two teams would combine to miss their final eight shots of the period as the Tornado carried the six-point lead into the locker room.

A Zach Davis trey and a Dotson jumper pulled the Pioneers back to within one (35-34) in the opening minute of the period.

King went on a 13-4 run including four straight points by Owens as the Tornado led 50-40 with 14:50 left in the game.  Tusculum pulled back to within four at 50-46 thanks to six straight from Fagan, including his fast-break layup with 12:35 remaining.

King pushed the lead back out to eight (59-51), but the Pioneers would bring it back to six at 59-53 on a Mounce jumper in the paint with 8:41 left.  The Tornado led by double-digits several times down the stretch, including its largest lead of the game at 68-56 with 6:24 on the scoreboard.

King led 73-62 with 1:45 remaining but back came the Pioneers as Hartle and Baylark made consecutive treys, while King missed three of four free throws as the deficit was trimmed to 74-68 with 55 seconds left.
Malcolm St. Louis added a dunk and Good connected on a pair of free throws to push the King lead back to 10 (78-68) with 33 seconds left.

The Pioneers made another pushed as Baylark scored on a layup, while Patterson recorded his team-leading sixth steal of the night, resulting into another Baylark bucket as TC trailed 78-72 with 28 seconds remaining.

Jordan Floyd was fouled as he made one of his two free throws, but Fagan knocked down his fourth trey of the contest as the KU lead dwindled to 79-75 with 22 seconds left.

Floyd was successful on his next two trips to the stripe for an 81-75 King lead with 20 second on the clock.  Baylark made it a one-possession game with his three-pointer with 16 seconds left with TC trailing 81-78.  But after a TC timeout, Floyd scored on a fast-break bucket out of the break for a five-point King lead and provide the final scoring margin of the game.

King forced 15 turnovers, resulting into 20 points for the home team. Tusculum scored 15 points off of the Tornado's 11 miscues.

Tusculum's 15 three-pointers matches a season-high for the Pioneers and marks the sixth consecutive game TC has recorded 10 or more treys, which is a first by the Black and Orange during the NCAA Division II era (1998-present).

Tusculum finished the night with 19 assists on its 27 field goals, including a career-high 11 helpers from Patterson, who becomes the first Pioneer since Ryan Troutman in 2008 to record 10 or more assists in consecutive games.

Mounce led the Pioneers with eight rebounds, while Fagan tallied six boards to go along with his four assists.  Fagan also extends his streak with a made three-pointer to 23 consecutive games.

Tusculum returns to South Atlantic Conference play next Wednesday night when the Pioneers travel to Lenoir-Rhyne University for an 8 p.m. contest from Shuford Memorial Gymnasium.