WISE, Va. --- Connor Jordan's three free throws with 1.5 seconds remaining proved to be the game-winner as Tusculum held on for a 70-68 South Atlantic Conference win over UVA Wise Wednesday night at the Prior Convocation Center.
The Pioneers (10-10, 8-6 SAC) record their second three-game winning streak of the season and have won six of their last nine contests since opening the season 3-7. The victory also propels the Pioneers into sole possession of fifth place in the league standings.
Jordan was one of four Pioneers to score in double-figures as he tallied 12 points and dished out four assists. Jacob Hobbs finished with a dozen markers and went 2-of-3 from three-point territory including his triple with 1:05 remaining to give TU a 67-64 lead.
UVA Wise's Calen Lightford trimmed the deficit to one at 67-66 following his jumper with 45 second to go. The Cavaliers' Patrick Shelley came up with a steal with 28 seconds left and UVA Wise called a timeout with 21.1 seconds left.
The Cavs looked to have turned the ball over as Hobbs took the ball out of the hands of Shelley on his driving layup attempt but Hobbs would step out of bounds with 12.1 seconds left.
UVA Wise took advantage of the reprieve as Shelley drained a jumper from the free throw line to give the Cavs a 68-67 lead with 7.6 seconds remaining.
The Pioneers in-bounded the ball immediately to Jordan who dribbled down the court and took a three-pointer from the top of the key, but was fouled hard by Zy'Ever Wingfield with 1.5 seconds left, sending the TU senior to the free throw line for the first time on the night.
Jordan made the first two free throws for a 69-68 lead before Tusculum called a timeout before his final attempt and set-up the defense. Jordan made the third free throw to give TU a two-point advantage. Wise would call its final timeout. But on the in-bounds, Hobbs deflected the ball as time ran out.
Jordan's late-game heroics are nothing new for the TU senior as he hit two free throws with 2.8 seconds left in last year's 73-71 SAC Quarterfinal win over Wingate.
Wingfield led all players with his 15 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots. UVA Wise also got 13 points from Joe'l Pettiford and 12 each from Lav Cvetkovic' and Shelley.
The Pioneers came out of the gate on fire making six of their first nine shots including four of their first five 3-pointers to race out to a 16-6 lead following a triple from redshirt freshman Bryce Jackson at the 15:02 mark of the period.
With TU up 20-10, the Cavs went on a 19-6 run to take a 29-26 lead with 3:26 left in the half. The Cavs would push their advantage out to five (33-28), but the Pioneers would close out the period with a 6-1 spurt including Jordan's game-tying jumper just before the horn to knot the score at 34-34.
The lead went back-and-forth in the early moments of the period as Wise would take a 40-39 lead with 16:33 remaining following a jumper by Shelley. TU would go on a 13-4 run over the next 6:33 as the Pioneers led 52-44. The run was sparked by back-to-back triples from KJ Crump and a Hobbs bucket.
UVA Wise would chip away at the deficit and whittled the TU lead down to four on a couple of occasions, but the Pioneers maintained the advantage and led 62-54 with five minutes remaining.
The Cavs made a charge and use a 10-2 run and tied the game at 64-64 on Carmelo Pacheco's three-pointer with two minutes left to set up the late-game drama.
UVA Wise finished the game shooting 49.1 percent but went just 3-of-12 from three-point territory (25%). The Cavs went 11-of-15 from the foul line while Tusculum ended the contest going 8-of-11 for the game including 7-of-9 in the second half.
The Pioneers went 26-of-57 (46%) from the floor, which included five dunks, and 10-of-25 from three-point territory (40%).
The teams tied in rebounding with 31 boards each, while the Pioneers and Cavaliers also had 13 turnovers apiece.
Tusculum will be at home this Saturday when they host SAC front-runner Wingate for a 4 p.m. contest. The Bulldogs defeated the Pioneers 87-78 in last month's meeting in Cuddy Arena.
Tusculum has won its last seven games in the month of February and have won a remarkable 13 in a row in February home games. Over the past six years, Tusculum is now 31-7 in February including 16-1 at Pioneer Arena.
