GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University men's basketball team used a key 17-4 second half run to pace the Pioneers to a 58-50 South Atlantic Conference win over visiting Coker University Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Arena.
TU junior guard Trenton Gibson was held to a season-low nine points, but he scored contributed six markers during the Tusculum run which lasted 8:27 turning a one-point deficit into a 12-point lead for the home team.
TU freshman Inady Legiste, who was making his career start, finished with a team-high 13 points, shooting 4-of-7 from the floor and 4-of-5 from the free throw line. He also tallied five rebounds and two blocked shots for the Pioneers (6-2, 6-2 SAC).
Sophomore guard Keaston Brown came two points shy of matching a career-best as he posted a dozen points to go along with two assists and three steals. Gibson added a game-high nine rebounds, while Joshua Scott shot 3-of-3 from the floor, including two 3-pointers as he finished with eight points off the bench.
Coker's Chandler Lindsey led all scorers with 16 points, while Christopher Fordham added 12 points and eight rebounds in the loss for the Cobras (4-4, 4-4 SAC).
Neither team shot above 40 percent for the game as the two squads slugged it out in a defensive battle. For the first time in four games, Tusculum won the rebound battle by a 42-32 margin, including 17 offensive rebounds. Senior Brandon Mitchell had six of his seven boards on the offensive glass for Tusculum.
The Pioneers jumped out to a 10-4 lead as Scott scored eight straight points, including his two triples. The Cobras answered with an 8-0 run of their own sparked by back-to-back buckets from Onyeodi Williams and Lindsay as Coker led 12-10 at the 10:19 mark of the first half.
Brown hit a jumper for Tusculum and Lindsey made two free throws as the Cobras led 14-12 with nine minutes on the clock. Neither team could gain any momentum until the Pioneers scored the final four points of the half thanks to Zack Dixon as TU took a 27-22 lead into the locker room.
The Cobras scored the first six points of the second half to take a 28-27 lead thanks to back-to-back layups from Ryan Carfley. TU answered with five straight as Legiste drained a three-pointer from the top of the key and Gibson converted a Coker errant pass into a layup as the Pioneers led 32-28 with 16:49 remaining.
The Cobras used a 5-0 spurt as Anderson Keller hit a jumper and Kennedy's three-pointer gave the visitors a 33-32 lead with under 15 minutes left.
TU scored seven in a row as DyQuavis Wilkins scored a layup, Brown added a basket and sophomore Miguel Boskovic made a three-pointer for his first collegiate points as Tusculum led 39-33 at the 12:40 mark of the period. Coker's Seth Bennett made two free throws to slow down the TU run and Fordham got an offensive rebound and layup as the deficit was trimmed to two (39-37).
But Tusculum scored 10 unanswered points over a span of four minutes to give the Pioneers a 49-37 lead followed Brown's two free throws with 6:51 on the clock. During the Coker drought the Cobras missed three straight shots and committed four turnovers.
Lindsey hit a three-pointer to cut the deficit back to single digits, but a layup from Legiste and a steal and layup by Dixon gave Tusculum its largest lead of the game at 53-40 with five minutes to go.
The Cobras battled back with five straight points including a Fordham offensive rebound and basket with 2:13 remaining as Coker trailed 53-45.
Tusculum missed a pair of free throws on their next possession, but Scott came down with a critical rebound on the second miss. Legiste was fouled and he made his two free throws as TU led 55-45 with 1:32 on the scoreboard.
A pair of Fordham free throws trimmed the TU lead back to single digits at 55-47 with 48 seconds left. The Pioneers, who had been very reliable at the free throw line this season, struggled in the final minute making three of its final six at the stripe, but Coker would miss its next two shots and got a Keller three-pointer with just seconds left in the game to provide the final margin of victory for Tusculum.
Tusculum finished the game shooting 22-of-56 from the floor for 39.3 percent including 4-of-22 from three-point territory (18.2%) and 10-of-18 from the free throw line (55.6%). Coker was limited to 34 percent shooting (18-of-53), 3-of-18 from three-point land (16.7%), but shot a respectable 11-of-13 from the free throw line (84.6%).
The Pioneers will have a short turnaround time as the Sons of Davy Crockett will travel to SAC newcomer Limestone University for an 8 p.m. contest this Monday night.
