DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. --- The Davis & Elkins men's basketball team used a 9-0 run late in the game as the Senators rallied to a 59-54 win over Tusculum University at the ICI Center on the opening day of the Embry-Riddle Holiday Classic.
Davis & Elkins (8-4) forced 18 turnovers including a dozen in the second half with five miscues coming in the final four minutes. Tusculum (5-3) finished the game shooting a season-low 33.3 percent including 1-of-11 to close out contest.
The D&E duo of Vadim Clanet and Sam Rolle IV each accounted for 15 points, while Evan Busby tallied nine markers in the first recorded meeting between the two schools.
Tusculum's Inady Legiste extended his TU record streak of double-double games to seven in a row as he posted 17 points and 15 rebounds in the loss. Senior Joshua Scott recorded season-highs with 12 points and seven boards, while sophomore guard KJ Crump matched a season-best with eight points.
Davis & Elkins went 13-of-24 from the floor in the second half (54%) but only managed to shoot 37.5 percent for the game.
The teams slugged it out in the first 20 minutes as both squads shot below 32 percent as TU led 24-22 at halftime.
Crump got TU on the board to start the second half but a 5-0 run by Davis & Elkins gave the Senators a 27-26 lead at the 17:53 mark of the period.
The lead would bounce back and forth until Tusculum got a Scott layup and Legiste nailed a three-pointer to take a 37-33 lead with 14:53 remaining. At the 12:45 mark, Crowder hit a three-pointer from the left wing as TU led 42-37.
Both teams went cold from the field for the next 3:04 as D&E would account for the only offense which including three made free throws and capped off by a Jaylen White jumper to tie the game at 42-42 with 9:41 left in the game.
Baskets by Legiste and Justin Mitchell pushed the TU advantage back out to four (48-44) before nine unanswered points from the Senators including a pair of free throws from Rolle as D&E took its largest lead of the night at 56-50 with 2:39 left.
Tusculum ended a scoring drought which last 7:02 when Connor Jordan made two free throws to cut the deficit to 56-62 with 1:46 remaining.
Rolle hit a big jumper in the paint to extend the lead back to six (58-52) with 1:17 to go. TU missed a three on its next trip down the floor, but James West IV came up with a steal and layup with to pull the Pioneers to within four (58-54) with 49 seconds to go.
Tusculum drew and offensive foul with 45 seconds, but an errant pass by the Pioneers into the backcourt 12 seconds later halted any momentum TU had.
Tusculum missed its first 14 three-point tries and ended the game going 2-for-23 from beyond the arch.
TU held a 48-38 advantage in rebounding including 18-8 on the offensive boards. The Senators shot 14-of-18 from the free throw line, while Tusculum went 6-of-8 at the foul line.
During the Coach J.T. Burton era, the Pioneers have held the opposition to under 60 points on 18 occasions, but this marks the first loss in a sub-60 game in the past five seasons.
The Pioneers will take on host Embry-Riddle on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
