SALISBURY, N.C. --- Trenton Gibson hit a three-pointer at the buzzer as Tusculum University rallied from seven-point deficit with under two minutes remaining to capture a thrilling 74-72 win at Catawba College Saturday afternoon at Goodman Gym.
Gibson finished the game with game-high 24 points as Tusculum snapped a five-game losing streak to the Catawba Indians. With the victory, TU (5-1, 5-1 SAC) also slides back into a tie for first place in the South Atlantic Conference standings.
The buzzer-beater win was the first by Tusculum since Douglas Tshomba hit the game-winning triple in the Pioneers' 89-88 win over Catawba at then Alpine Arena on Feb. 12, 2005.
Tusculum trailed 71-64 with 1:53 remaining in the contest after Catawba's Ben Bowen made two free throws.
Gibson made two free throws with 1:48 left to make it a 71-66 game. On the Catawba in-bounds pass Joshua Scott came up with the loose ball for TU and Gibson made the lay-up to trim the deficit to 71-68 with 1:39 on the scoreboard.
Catawba's Marcus Burwell was fouled as he made one of two free throws to make it a four-point game (72-68) with 1:32 to go. Tusculum sophomore Zack Dixon drained a three-pointer in front of the TU bench with 1:27 left as the Pioneers were down but one (72-71).
The Indians (2-5, 2-5 SAC) came up empty on their next possession and TU went for the lead on the fast-break, but Gibson was called for an offensive foul with 52.7 left. Burwell would miss a jumper and Gibson was fouled on the rebound with 39.6 seconds left.
Gibson, who made his first seven free throw tries, missed the front end of the one-and-bonus as Catawba came down with the rebound. The Indians worked the shot clock down and Terrence Whitfield's lay-up was blocked by Brandon Mitchell and the scramble for the ball ensued. The ball went off of a Tusculum player but the shot clock mistakenly was reset during the excitement. The officials gathered and discussed the play and decided to put one second on the shot clock with 10.4 seconds on the game clock.
Catawba got off a desperation shot that wedged between the rim and the basket, giving Tusculum the basketball on the alternate possession with 7.5 seconds remaining.
Gibson took the in-bounds pass and went the length of the floor, dribbled to the top of the key and took a step-back three-pointer from 22-feet out that hit nothing but the net for the game-winner.
Gibson finished the game shooting 7-of-15 from the floor including 3-of-6 from three-point territory and 7-of-8 from the charity stripe. He also dished out six assists and had four rebounds in the victory. Brandon Mitchell added 12 points, nine boards and four blocked shots to give him 145 for his career which are the second-most in program history.
Dixon added 10 points off the bench, while the trip of Keaston Brown, Inady Legiste and Kobe Funderburk finished with six points apiece.
Catawba was led by Whitfield's 15 points, while Marcus Burwell and Larry McLeod finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Tusculum jumped out to a 15-6 lead thanks to six points from Gibson and capped off by a Funderburk three-pointer, his sixth in row dating back to Wednesday when he went 5-of-5 in TU's home win over Carson-Newman. Meanwhile, Catawba missed nine of its first 12 shot attempts.
But the Indians made seven of their next 10 and went on a 17-4 run to take a 23-19 advantage with 7:17 remaining before halftime. Brandon Mitchell's three-pointer cut the Catawba lead to one (23-22), but an 8-3 spurt capped off by a Tawqwain Drummond layup extended the hosts lead to 31-25 with 3:54 on the clock.
After a Tusculum timeout, the Pioneers would close out the half with a 13-3 run which included five markers from Gibson and back-to-back buckets from Legiste as TU took a 38-34 lead into halftime.
In the second half, Catawba seized the momentum and retook the lead on Bernard Pelote's three-pointer as the Indians went up 44-42 with 16:36 left. Brandon Mitchell converted a three-point play to seize back the lead for the visitors. Whitfield gained the lead back for Catawba with his layup with 14:14 to go.
Catawba's DJ Johnson came up with a big rejection Legiste's drive to the basket, but Johnson was whistled for a technical foul on the play with 13:28 remaining. Gibson made the two free throws and Funderburk made his second three-pointer of the game as Tusculum led 52-48.
Catawba responded with a jumper from Whitfield and a Caleb Robinson dunk to tie the game at 52-52 with 12:20 on the scoreboard.
Both teams would go scoreless until Catawba went on an 8-0 run to take a 60-52 lead with 8:12 remaining. After a media timeout, Brandon Mitchell broke the ice for Tusculum with his dunk and Scott added a fast-break lay-up as the Pioneers trailed 62-58. Burwell made a three-pointer for Catawba and Justin Mitchell answered with one of his own.
Tusculum would miss its next five shots, while Catawba pushed the lead back to eight on a pair of buckets from Burwell as the Indians led 69-61 with 3:21 remaining. Gibson made a running jumper in the paint to cut the deficit to 69-63 with 3:07 to go and after missed three-point shot from Catawba, Dixon made one of two free throws with two minutes left to set the table for the final heroics.
Catawba finished the game shooting 47 percent (28-of-60), but went 2-of-10 from beyond the arc. Catawba also went 14-of-21 from the free throw line (67%). Tusculum finished the game shooting 43.1 percent including 10-of-27 from three-point land (37%) and a sizzling 14-of-17 from the foul line for 82.4 percent.
The Pioneers were out-rebounded for a third straight game as Catawba held a 37-32 lead on the boards. TU was also held to a season-low 74 points ending its string of consecutive 80-point games at five in a row to start the season. The Pioneers are off to its first 5-1 start to a season since the 2006-07 campaign.
Tusculum returns to action on Wednesday as they travel to Newberry College for a 4 p.m. SAC game at Eleazer Arena. This game was originally scheduled for December but was postponed due to COVID.
