GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Tusculum University junior Trenton Gibson scored a career-high 31 points and tied the school single-game record for free throws made as the Pioneers outlasted UVA Wise 109-96 Tuesday night at Pioneer Arena in South Atlantic Conference action.
Tusculum improves to 2-0 for a second straight season while UVA Wise (0-1, 0-1 SAC) drops its season-opener.
Gibson went 19-of-21 from the free throw stripe and tied the 19 free throws made by former TU guard Addison Flynn, who knocked down 19 at Catawba on Jan. 12, 2013. In that game, Flynn went 19-of-22 at the stripe. Gibson's 21 free throw tries are the third-most ever by a Pioneer.
The Cavaliers' Cameron Whiteside led all scorers as he tallied a career-high 42 points while also pulling down a team-high 11 boards in the loss. Whiteside, last year's SAC scoring champion, went 18-of-19 from the free throw line, while also shooting 11-of-20 from the field including 2-of-4 from three-point land.
The two teams combined for 60 free throws on 77 attempts thanks to 58 fouls (29 by each team).
Tusculum's 109 points are the most scored by the Pioneers in three seasons for TU head coach JT Burton.
TU newcomer James West scored 21 points, including a dozen in the second half as the Pioneers outscored UVA Wise 58-45 in the final period. West went 8-of-16 from the field including 4-of-10 from three-point land. Tusculum's Joshua Scott recorded his first collegiate double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Justin Mitchell tallied a career-high 13 markers going 5-of-6 from the floor and 2-of-2 from beyond the three-point arc. Brandon Mitchell added nine points and six rebounds, while freshman Inady Legiste recorded eight points, six rebounds and two steals.
UVA Wise's Kaeleb Carter scored 17 points on five 3-pointers, while Tyler Lloyd added 16 points for the visitors.
The Pioneers shot 51.4 percent from the floor going 36-of-70 including 55 percent in the second half (18-33). UVA Wise went 28-of-64 from the field for 44 percent and accounted for 10 three-pointers on 26 attempts (39%).
Tusculum won the board battle by a 46-33 margin including 15 offensive rebounds resulting in 24 second chance points for the home team.
With the game tied at halftime at 51-51, Whiteside scored 24 points including 14-of-14 shooting at the free throw stripe, while Gibson had 18 markers and was a perfect 10-of-10 at the line through 20 minutes.
In the second half, Whiteside's tip-in gave the Cavs a 55-54 lead with 17 minutes left in the contest. Tusculum answered with five straight points from Keaston Brown as TU led 59-55 with 15:34 to go.
A Lloyd three-point play at the 15:21 mark of the half trimmed the TU lead back to one (59-58). Tusculum would push the lead to six points on a couple of occasions over the next five minutes before Lloyd came up with another three-point play to cut the deficit to 70-67 with 10 minutes remaining. Tusculum would go on a 12-2 run over the next three minutes, including seven points from Gibson as the Pioneers led 82-69 with 7:17 remaining.
Three triples in a row from West maintained the Pioneers double-digit lead at 92-78 with five minutes on the scoreboard. UVA Wise chipped away but could only get as close as nine points on three occasions including 103-94 with 1:10 left but that would be as close as the Cavaliers would get.
The Pioneers defeat UVA Wise for a fifth straight time and in 11 of the last 13 meetings.
Tusculum returns to action on Wednesday when the Pioneers travel to NCAA Division I Furman University for a 4 p.m. exhibition contest at Timmons Arena. TU returns to conference play this Saturday afternoon when they face second-ranked Lincoln Memorial University at Tex Turner Arena. LMU (2-0, 2-0 SAC) has won 34 consecutive games dating back to last season, including a win over Tusculum in the SAC Semifinal last March.
