GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University men's basketball team used a 19-7 run in the second half to pace the Pioneers to a 73-62 South Atlantic Conference win over Newberry Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Arena.
Tusculum (9-10, 7-6 SAC) records its fourth consecutive home win and improve to 7-2 at Pioneer Arena this season. TU also continued a remarkable run recording its sixth straight win in the month of February as well as extend a 13-game home winning streak in February games dating back to 2020.
The Pioneers split the season series with the Wolves (5-13, 4-9 SAC) and avenge a 79-60 loss at Newberry in December.
TU's Josiah Morris posted his second straight 15-point performance as he knocked down four 3-pointers. Connor Jordan added 14 points, Akeem Odusipe had 10 markers and Bryce Jackson posted nine points in the win.
Newberry placed four players in double figure scoring as the trio of James Lovorn, Booker Cusaac and Drake Downs had 12 points apiece while Caleb Byrd contributed 11 points in the loss.
With the score tied early at 4-4, Tusculum went on a 9-2 run to take a 13-6 advantage on TJ Printup's layup at the 13:11 mark. The Pioneers lead would not swell more than seven in the first half as the Wolves cut the deficit to 25-24 with 2:29 remaining in the half.
TU's KJ Crump buried a three-pointer with two minutes left in the period before Devario Sheppard canned a bucket to trim the deficit to 28-26 with 1:25 left on the clock. Travis Pourciau converted a layup for the Pioneers to make it a four-point game, but Downs hit a pair of free throws with 17 seconds on the scoreboard as TU led 30-28. After a timeout, the Pioneers worked for one shot and Morris worked his way open and hit a three-pointer at the buzzer as TU led 33-28 at the half.
With the Pioneers ahead 40-36 with 15:33 remaining, Tusculum scored seven in a row including a three-point play by Odusipe as TU took its first double-digit lead of the game at 47-36 with 13:38 to go. After a Newberry timeout, Lovorn answered with a three-pointer to cut the TU lead to 47-39. The Pioneers would close out the 19-7 run with a 12-4 spurt, capped off by a triple from Kobe Funderburk as Tusculum led 59-43 with 8:14 remaining.
The Pioneers would stretch out the lead to as many as 17 and Newberry was unable to get as close as 11 on several occasions as Tusculum held on for the victory.
Tusculum finished the game shooting 47.2 percent from the floor including 11-of-28 from three-point territory. Newberry was limited to 34 percent including 12-of-36 in the second half. TU held a 39-37 edge in rebounding. TU got a game nine rebounds from Jacob Hobbs to go along with four points and three assists.
The Pioneers will be on the road this Wednesday when they travel to UVA Wise for a 7:30 p.m. contest.
