ANDERSON, S.C. --- The Anderson University men's basketball team made 10 of its first 11 shots and held off a second half rally as the Trojans defeated Tusculum College 75-65 Wednesday night at the Abney Athletic Center.
Anderson (10-11, 6-9 SAC) raced out to a 35-17 halftime lead and led by as many as 24 in the second half, before the Pioneers (4-16, 4-11 SAC) made a valiant charge to trim the deficit to single digits at 71-62, but it would not be enough.
Myson Jones paced the Trojans with 17 points, while Chris Ross posted 15 markers and shot 6-of-7 from the floor. Nick Jackson and Matt McClain poured in 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Tusculum junior Javon Price led all scorers with 22 points, including his six 3-pointers, while sophomore Chase Mounce finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds for his third consecutive double-double and seventh of the year. Mounce shot 7-of-12 form the field and dished out three assists.
TC sophomore Cory Fagan tallied nine points and a team-high four assists, while junior Matt Shown finished with nine points and seven boards. TC also got seven points from sophomore Zach Davis, while senior Mason Fox added three points and three assists.
The Trojans, who led wire-to-wire, vaulted out to a 25-10 lead in the first 10 minutes and connected on their opening four 3-point tries, including back-to-back trifectas by Tre' Fields.
AU opened the second period with a 9-3 spurt in the opening 3:45 to take its largest lead of the night at 44-20 following a Jones' three-pointer.
With Anderson leading 48-28 with 13:09 remaining, the Pioneers went on a 9-1 run to trim the deficit to 49-37 thanks to four points from Davis and a Fagan three-pointer.
AU scored five straight points to pump to take a 54-37 lead, thanks in part to a Ross jumper and a Jones' trey with 8:40 left on the clock.
Back-to-back three-pointers from Jackson and McClain increased the AU advantage to 64-42 with 5:45 remaining.
Tusculum made one last push as the Black and Orange erupted on a three-point shooting barrage to spark a 14-2 run 3:06 to pull the Pioneers to within 10 at 66-56. Price caught fire making three consecutive treys, while Fagan added in one himself.
But Alex Greisen answered stopped the rally with a three-pointer of his own to give the Trojans a 69-56 lead with 2:27 to go.
With Anderson leading 70-57 with 2:07 left, TC got a layup from Price and Fox buried a three-pointer as Tusculum trailed by single digits (71-62) for the first time since early in the game. But that would be as close as the visitors would get as Anderson would make four of its next six free throws to put the game out of reach.
Anderson finished the game shooting 52.2 percent from the field, including 14-of-23 (61%) in the first 20 minutes. Tusculum shot just 25 percent in the first half, but bounced to shoot 16-of-32 in the second period, including 8-of-14 from three-point land (57%).
Anderson out-rebounded Tusculum by a 34-29 margin, but TC came up with 14 offensive rebounds, resulting in 13 second-chance points for the Pioneers.
Tusculum will wrap up its three-game road trip on Saturday as the Pioneers travel to Salisbury, North Carolina to take on Catawba College for a 4 p.m. contest.
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