GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Trenton Gibson poured in a game-high 22 points and seven assists to lead the Tusculum University men's basketball team to an 82-72 South Atlantic Conference win over Carson-Newman University Wednesday night at Pioneer Arena. It was the 175th recorded meeting in the storied history between the East Tennessee rivals.
The Pioneers (4-1, 4-1 SAC) outscored the Eagles 52-32 in the first half while shooting a blistering 11-of-13 from three-point territory (84.6%) in the opening 20 minutes. Freshman Kobe Funderburk connected on all five of his 3-point tries for the game, including 4-for-4 in the first half capped off by his triple with time expiring to end the period.
But Carson-Newman (1-3, 1-3 SAC), who was seeing its first action in over a month, put up a furious charge in the second half and trimmed the deficit to 76-69 with 2:17 remaining in the contest.
Tusculum, who shot 64 percent in the opening stanza, went cold in the second going 9-of-26 for 35 percent including 0-for-6 from the floor in the final five minutes of the game. But TU went 9-of-11 from the foul line in that five-minute span to record its fourth win over the Eagles in their last five encounters.
Gibson posted his third 20-point game of the season, going 7-of-13 from the field, including a three-pointer and 7-of-8 shooting from the charity stripe as he recorded his 900th career point (919). The All-SAC standout also posted a block and two steals in his 39 minutes of action.
Funderburk tallied a season-best 15 points as his perfect 5-of-5 performance from beyond the arc tied the school single-game record posted by Jimmy Boone on Nov. 17, 2007 against Bellarmine University and Donovan Donaldson against Newberry College on Jan. 13, 2018. In Funderburk's collegiate debut earlier this year, he went a perfect 4-of-4 in the final two minutes against Wingate University (Nov. 21, 2020) and is shooting 9-of-10 from three-point land this year.
TU freshman forward Inady Legiste posted a season-best 14 points going 4-of-7 from the floor with a trifecta and 5-of-7 from the foul line. He also contributed three rebounds and three blocked shots in the victory. Sophomore Justin Mitchell recorded career-highs with three 3-pointers and five assists.
Carson-Newman's Ren Dyer led the visitors with his 16 markers, while Bryant Thomas added 12 points and three blocked shots and the duo of EJ Bush and Luke Brenegan tallied 10 points each. Bush completed his double-double with 10 boards as C-N out-rebounded Tusculum by a 42-29 margin including 22-8 on the offensive glass.
Tusculum finished the game shooting 49 percent from the field including 13-of-20 from three-point territory for 65 percent, which is the second-best long-range shooting effort by percentage in school history. TU also went 19-of-24 from the foul line for 79.2 percent.
Carson-Newman ended the game shooting 38.3 percent but still out-scored the Pioneers by a 32-18 margin in the paint. The Eagles went 21-of-32 from the free throw stripe (65.6%) and added five more blocked shots to their SAC-leading average.
Tusculum had 19 assists on its 25 made field goals, while committing 11 turnovers, a huge improvement over Saturday's season-worst 21 miscues in a loss at No. 2 Lincoln Memorial University.
The Pioneers return to action this Saturday when they travel to Catawba College for a 4 p.m. contest at Goodman Gym.
