GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Lenoir-Rhyne men's basketball team led wire-to-wire as the Bears posted an 82-59 South Atlantic Conference win at Tusculum College, Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Arena.

Lenoir-Rhyne (15-3, 8-0 SAC) maintains its stranglehold on first place in the league, while rattling off its eighth consecutive win. Eleven different players scored for the Bears as L-R shot 66 percent from the floor, including 17-of-24 (75%) in the first half. Lenoir-Rhyne scored the first 13 points of the game en route to taking a 44-28 advantage at the intermission.

Josh Rudder led L-R with his 15 points, including 12 in the opening half. Elliott McDowell was perfect from the floor shooting 5-for-5, including three 3-pointers for his 14 points. Reggie Bratton and Marcus Hodges 10 points each in the victory.

Tusculum sophomore Kyle Moore led the Pioneers with 16 points, while Lavonti Jeter accounted for 14 markers and seven rebounds off the bench as TC (8-12, 2-6 SAC) suffered its fifth straight loss. Junior Ryan Troutman added nine points and six assists, while Jimmy Boone finished with eight markers.

Lenoir-Rhyne (No. 5 in NCAA II South Atlantic Region) erupted out of the gate making five of their fist seven shots, including a three pointer by Hodges and a three-pointer and a three-point play Rudder. TC cut into the deficit with a 7-2 spurt, capped off by a three-pointer by Boone.

L-R answered with five straight points thanks to a three-pointer by McDowell and a basket by Ryan Crawford as the Bears led 22-9 and wouldn't surrender its double-digit lead for the remainder of the afternoon.

The Bears out-rebounded the Pioneers by a 32-19 margin and L-R got over half of its offensive production from its bench (42 points).

Tusculum returns to action this Wednesday when it travels to Lincoln Memorial for an 8 p.m. contest in Harrogate. The Bears, who just concluded a three-game road swing, return home Wednesday to host Brevard in a non-conference tilt at Shuford Gym at 8 p.m.