GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tusculum's Ronnie Baylark scored 20 points while hitting four 3-pointers as the Pioneers led wire-to-wire in Saturday's 99-83 South Atlantic Conference victory over visiting Coker.
All five starters posted double-digit scoring for Tusculum (5-4, 3-2 SAC) who snaps a three-game losing streak as well as a three-game drought to the Cobras (5-7, 2-4 SAC).
Kendall Patterson tallied 14 points and seven assists while hauling in a career-high nine rebounds. Cory Fagan went 5-of-7 from the floor, including a pair of three-pointers for his dozen points. He also grabbed six rebounds and dished out four assists. Chase Mounce added 11 points and seven boards, while Zach Davis tallied 10 markers and seven assists.
Coker's JaQuez Motley led all scorers with 24 points, all coming from three-point territory as he went 8-of-15 from beyond the arc. Larry Cooper contributed 13 points and 10 rebounds for his double-double for the Cobras.
Tusculum dominated the glass out-rebounding Coker by a 61-38 margin, including 21 offensive boards resulting in 28 second-chance points for the Pioneers. The 61 rebounds are a season-high and the fourth-most in Tusculum history. The TC board tally is also the most since becoming a South Atlantic Conference member (1998).
Tusculum opened the game with an 18-8 run in the first 5:29 and closed the half with a 24-8 spurt over a span of seven minutes to take a 59-38 lead into the locker room. TC shot 49 percent from the floor in the half, including 8-of-15 from three-point land (53%). Coker shot 38 percent in the first half, including 5-of-14 from downtown (36%).
In second period, Coker used an 11-3 run to trim the deficit to 70-56 with 13:43 remaining thanks to a Jake Barrett three-point play. TC push the lead back out to 18 at 74-56 with buckets from Davis and Fagan, but Motley canned one of his eight treys to pull Coker to 74-59 with 13 minutes left.
The Cobras would trim the deficit back to 17 at 82-65 following a three-pointer from Chase Brewington with 10:14 on the clock. But a 10-2 run by the Pioneers, including a four-point play by freshman Caleb Hodnett as TC took its largest lead of the afternoon at 92-67 with 4:36 left.
Hodnett finished the game with six points and a season-high 10 rebounds, while Keaton Dotson went 3-of-3 from the floor, including a pair of three-pointers for his eight points, while also matching a season-high with six rebounds. Zach Hartle added seven points, while Trey Blevins posted six markers in the victory.
The Pioneers went 25-of-39 from the free throw line (64.1%), while Coker went 10-of-22 (45.5%) from the charity stripe. The Cobras forced 20 turnovers, including 11 steals, resulting in 21 points of TC miscues.
Tusculum will close out the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule on Monday when they travel to Anderson for an 8 p.m. SAC contest from the Abney Athletic Center.
