WISE, Va. --- Tusculum University outscored UVA Wise by 21 points over the final 12 minutes to come away with a 101-82 victory in South Atlantic Conference men's basketball action at the Prior Convocation Center Sunday afternoon.

Adrian Cohen scored a career-high 14 points off the bench as one of five players in double figures for the Pioneers (3-0, 3-0 SAC), who trailed 59-57 before going on a 28-7 run over a 7 1/2-minute span to take command from the Cavaliers (0-3, 0-3 SAC) and sweep the season series, while extending their winning streak over UVA Wise to six games.

James West IV led the Pioneers with 18 points, Trenton Gibson added 17 points and nine rebounds, and Brandon Mitchell contributed 15 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for the Pioneers, who received 44 points from their bench. In addition to Cohen's 14 points, the Tusculum bench contributed 10 from Zack Dixon, while DyQuavis Wilkins and Inady Legiste each finished with eight points and eight rebounds.

Sunday's win followed a 109-96 win over the Cavaliers on Nov. 24 at Pioneer Arena, marking the first time the Pioneers have scored 100 points against an opponent twice in the same season since 2016-17 against Mars Hill. Tusculum has now opened 3-0 each of the last two years, marking the first time the Pioneers have done that since the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons.

Tusculum outrebounded UVA Wise by a 53-33 margin, including 18 offensive rebounds which the Pioneers converted into 17 second-chance points. Mitchell's double-double was his first of the season and the 10th of his career, while both Wilkins and Legiste finished with career highs on the boards.

Cameron Whiteside, who scored 42 points in the Nov. 24 loss to the Pioneers and entered the day leading Division II in scoring at 37.5 points per game, led the Cavaliers with 22 points on 7-for-16 shooting to go along with eight rebounds. Four finished in double figures for UVA Wise, with Tyler Lloyd adding 15 points, Izeah Parker with 12 points and eight rebounds, and Briggs Parris with 10 points.

The Pioneers dashed out to a 9-0 lead behind five points from West and four from Mitchell, before the Cavaliers got on the scoreboard on a layup by Parris with 2 1/2 minutes gone in the first half. Tusculum went up 19-10 just over five minutes into the half on the third three of the game from West, but back-to-back three-pointers from Lloyd and three straight buckets from Whiteside sparked a 12-0 run to tie the game at 27-27 with 9:18 left in the half.

Tusculum never gave up the lead as four straight from Gibson broke a 32-32 tie. A 10-0 run by the Pioneers was capped by a three-point play from Dixon that pushed the Pioneers ahead 47-35 with 3:22 left in the half. However, the Cavaliers ran off eight in a row to pull within 47-43 with 1:13 to go.

The Pioneers led 52-43 at halftime behind 16 points from West on 4-for-6 shooting from three-point range. Mitchell added 13 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots and Gibson contributed 14 points on 4-for-5 from the field and 6-for-7 at the line. Overall, the Pioneers shot 50 percent (18-for-36) from the field and 12-for-17 at the foul line, while hitting 4-for-9 from three-point range.

The Cavaliers shot 47.1 percent (16-for-34) from the field in the first half and 7-for-9 at the free throw line. Whiteside led UVA Wise in the half with 15 points on 5-for-8 shooting, with 10 points from Lloyd.

UVA Wise opened the second half with a 9-1 run to pull within 53-52 on a three-pointer by Parris with 15:50 to go. A layup from Lloyd gave the Cavaliers their first lead of the day at 54-53 with 14:17 to play, but after missing their first 11 shots of the half the Pioneers went back on top on a putback from Wilkins with 13:27 left. Wilkins would score eight points in a span of three minutes, the last two on a driving dunk, to help the Pioneers to a 64-60 advantage with 10:24 left.

Six straight points from Cohen, including a three-pointer, pushed the Pioneers ahead 70-63 with 7:53 to go. Another three-pointer from Cohen gave Tusculum a 78-63 advantage with 6:37 left, as the Cavaliers went more than six minutes without a field goal. Dixon gave Tusculum an 85-66 lead on a three-pointer with 4:43 remaining, and the lead grew to 24 points at 99-75 before a Makai Olden dunk with 17 seconds left broke the century mark for the Pioneers.

Tusculum shot 47.4 percent (36-for-76) from the field for the game, including 9-for-25 from three-point range, and went 20-for-28 from the foul line. UVA Wise went 42.4 percent (28-for-66) from the field, hit 6-for-22 (27.3 percent) from three-point range and matched the Pioneers by going 20-for-28 at the foul line.

The Pioneers will return to action on Wednesday with a trip to Catawba for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff with the Indians. The game was moved up from Jan. 9 after Tusculum's originally-scheduled game at Limestone was postponed due to COVID-19 concerns within the Limestone program.