GAFFNEY, S.C. --- Limestone University picked up its first victory in men's basketball as a member of the South Atlantic Conference with a 68-61 win over Tusculum University Monday night at the Timken Center.
Jamel McGowan scored 17 points to lead the Saints (1-5, 1-5 SAC), who overcame a nine-point deficit in the second half. Ayo Dada went 8-for-8 from the foul line, including six in a row in the final minute, and finished with 15 points while Ben Gahlert added 13 points and Isayah Owens chipped in with 10.
Trenton Gibson scored a game-high 28 points for the Pioneers (6-3, 6-3 SAC), but he was the only player to reach double figures in the game for Tusculum. Joshua Scott finished with eight points and Adrian Cohen added seven off the bench for the Pioneers, who were facing the Saints for the first time since 1998.
Limestone thrived at the foul line, going 26-for-34 (76.5 percent) for the game at the stripe including 21-for-25 in the second half. Tusculum went 14-for-18 (77.9 percent) at the foul line as a team, led by Gibson who sank 9-for-10. Both teams connected on six three-pointers in the contest, with leading scorers McGowan and Gibson accounting for three apiece from long range for their respective teams.
Tusculum trailed 16-5 midway through the first half, but rallied to cut the deficit to 25-23 at halftime. Gibson led the Pioneers with 13 points in the opening half, while McGowan paced the Saints in the first half with eight points.
The Pioneers held the Saints without a field goal for the first five minutes of the second half, taking a 35-26 lead with just under 16 minutes to go. Tusculum's lead stood at 45-36 with nine minutes left, but back-to-back buckets from Limestone cut the margin to 45-40. A free throw from Cohen pushed the Pioneers ahead 46-40 with 7:48 to play, but back-to-back three-pointers from Owens gave Limestone a 48-46 lead with 6:09 left.
Trailing by four, Gibson hit a three-pointer to pull the Pioneers within 52-51 with 4:05 left. Two free throws from McGowan extended the Limestone lead to 56-51 with 1:31 to play, and Gahlert added a pair from the stripe with 1:18 left.
Gibson connected on a layup with 1:06 to go to pull the Pioneers back within 58-53, and Gahlert hit one foul shot for a 59-53 Limestone lead at the 1:05 mark. Another basket from Gibson cut the Saints' lead to 59-55 with 56 seconds to go, but Dada sank two at the line for a 61-55 Limestone lead with 51.2 seconds to go.
Tusculum again pulled within four on a layup by DyQuavis Wilkins with 43.4 seconds on the clock, and Owens made one foul shot with 35 seconds left for a 62-57 Limestone lead. The Pioneers crept to within 62-58 on a free throw from Scott with 26.7 to play, but Dada put the game out of reach with two free throws with 26.5 seconds to go.
After two misses from the Pioneers, two more foul shots from Dada with 11.9 seconds left extended the Limestone advantage to 66-58. A three-pointer from Cohen with 4.9 seconds left was followed by two more free throws from Dada with 3.4 seconds left to set the final margin.
Gibson's 28 points marked the fifth time this season the junior has surpassed the 20-point mark, and were three shy of his career high of 31 set against UVA Wise on Nov. 24. Gibson is seven points shy of becoming the 28th player to reach the 1,000-point plateau at Tusculum.
The Pioneers will return to the road to face Queens University of Charlotte on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in the only regular-season meeting between the Pioneers and Royals. Queens (8-3, 7-2 SAC) had a six-game winning streak snapped Monday night with a 71-66 loss at Lenoir-Rhyne.
