CHARLOTTE, N.C. --- The Tusculum Pioneers recorded its biggest upset win in program history with an 81-74 victory at fourth-ranked Queens University of Charlotte Wednesday night at the Levine Center.
Tusculum (5-2, 5-0 SAC) has won its last five contests and remains the only undefeated team in South Atlantic Conference play while handing the Royals (6-1, 3-1 SAC) their first loss of the season.
The win over No. 4 Queens is the highest-ranked opponent the Pioneers have ever defeated, besting the TU 99-94 victory over seventh-ranked King University on Dec. 14, 2015. In that 99-94 win over King, the Pioneers overcame a 21-point deficit in the second half.
TU's Trenton Gibson poured in 23 points with 15 of those coming in the second half as he knocked down a career-best four 3-pointers.
True freshman KJ Crump tallied a season-high 18 points as he connected on his first 5 field goal tries including four triples of his own. But it was his two free throw makes with 24.6 seconds remaining which put the game out of reach and sealed TU's third win over a nationally-ranked opponent in its last four tries.
Brandon Mitchell came off the bench and posted 15 points while shooting a perfect 7-of-7 from the floor. He also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds including seven on the offensive glass for his 11th career double-double.
Queens was led by Kenny Dye's 22 points and six assists, while Jamari Smith added 14 markers and six boards. BJ McLaurin went 4-of-5 from the field and the free throw line for his dozen points off the bench for the Royals.
The Pioneers led for a majority of the game, holding the lead for over 29 minutes including all but 13 seconds in the second period.
Crump scored 13 points in the first half while making his first four 3-point tries including his first triple of the game as TU led 11-8 at the 14:35 mark of the period. The Royals answered with an 8-0 run to take a 16-11 lead with 13:41 on the clock and forcing a Tusculum timeout.
Out of the break, Crump buried his second trey and stole the in-bounds pass to set up a fast-break bucket by Mitchell as Tusculum tied the game at 16-16 with 12:48 left. The Royals would miss its next four field goals and two free throw tries on a possession which last almost a minute. Jay'Den Turner would end the drought with a layup as the Royals took back the lead at 18-16.
Neither team would lead by more than two points over the next seven minutes which saw five ties and four lead changes.
After Crump missed his first shot of the game, Mitchell came up with the offensive rebound and jumper in the paint to tie the game at 26-26 with 6:10 left in the half. After a Queens turnover, Gibson connected on his first 3-pointer of the night and followed with a basket on TU's next possession to cap a 5-0 run.
McLaurin answered with a layup off a steal, but Mitchell later responded with a rim-rattling dunk for a 33-28 lead with 3:35 on the scoreboard.
Queens scored five in a row for the ninth tie of the first half (33-33), but Gibson canned another shot from beyond the arc and Mitchell made a free throw for a 37-33 TU lead with 1:38 to go. The Royals missed six consecutive shots as Justin Mitchell came up with a steal and was fouled. He made one of two free throws for a 38-33 lead, but Dye canned a three-pointers in the final seconds as Tusculum took a 38-36 lead into halftime.
The Pioneers came out firing in the second half as James West IV made a three-pointer 12 seconds to lead again by five (41-36). The two teams exchanged buckets including a jumper from TU's William Vedder. Trailing 43-38, the Royals got hot and went on a 6-0 spurt thanks for four points from Dye and a basket from Turner as Queens regained the lead at 44-43 with 17:09 left in regulation.
Tusculum would make four of its next five field goals including a Crump trifecta, baskets from Gibson and Vedder and Justin Mitchell fast-break dunk after a West steal with 15 minutes remaining.
AJ McKee hit a running jumper in the lane to trim the TU lead to 52-51 with 14:30 left, but the Pioneers went on a 7-2 run which included a three-point bomb and a two-point jump shot from Legiste and Brandon Mitchell scored a layup as the Pioneers pushed their advantage out to its largest lead to this point at 59-53 with 12:38 remaining on the clock.
The Royals trimmed the deficit to two (59-57) with a Smith layup and two free throws from Dye with under 10 minutes to go.
The Pioneers got three-pointers from Justin Mitchell and Gibson as the lead swelled back to six (65-59) at the 8:11 mark of the half. Queens would get a McKee triple to make it a 65-63 game with 7:35 remaining before Gibson made his fourth trey of the game on TU's ensuing possession.
Queens trimmed the deficit back to three on two occasions over the next few minutes including 70-67 with 5:19 left after McLaurin's two made free throws. The Pioneers scored four in a row including an offensive board and put-back by Brandon Mitchell as TU took its largest lead of the game at 74-67 with 4:09 to go. It would be Tusculum's final field goal of the night.
After a timeout, the Pioneers would go scoreless for over three minutes, but Queens could only muster five points during the TU drought including Dye's three-point play with 1:24 on the clock.
Gibson would be fouled with 1:02 left as he made his two free throws for a 76-72 lead. Tusculum would get a steal, but would turn the ball back over to the Royals with 47 seconds left as Smith was fouled. He made one of his two free throws to cut the TU lead to 76-73. Gibson would draw another foul with 31 second left but he would make the first but miss the second. On the rebound, TU was called for a foul sending Quan McCluney to the free throw line with 30 seconds remaining. He would miss the first try, but made the second to make it a one-possession game (77-74).
Six seconds later, Queens fouled Crump as the freshman had attempted only one free throw this season, a miss coming 10 days ago at Catawba. But with the game on the line, he would make his first two free throw makes memorable as it would extend the TU lead to 79-74.
Queens would come up empty on its next two trips up the floor, while Gibson capped the win with two more free throws as the Pioneers posted its ninth win over a NCAA Division II top-25 opponent with three of those coming a ranked Queens team.
Queens out-rebounded the Pioneers by a 44-36 margin including 22-13 on the offensive glass. But despite the margin, TU out-scored the Royals in second-chance points (19-13).
Tusculum finished the game shooting 47.5 percent from the floor including 12-of-31 from three-point land. TU overcame a sluggish 2-of-6 start from the free throw line and finished strong making nine of its 10 tries in the final period. The Pioneers also took advantage of 15 turnovers by the hosts, resulting into 23 points.
Gibson moved into sole possession of 16th place on Tusculum's all-time scoring list as he has 1,292 points, moving past former All-SAC center Chase Mounce who scored 1,273 points from 2013-2017. He is 12 points away from surpassing Richie Cutlip in the No. 15 position.
Tusculum returns home on Saturday as they will face their second straight ranked opponent when 15th-ranked Lincoln Memorial visits Pioneer Arena for a 4 p.m. tip-off. It will be a rematch of last year's NCAA Division II Southeast Regional semifinal as the host Railsplitters won 80-66. That win avenged a 90-74 TU victory in LMU's last trip to Greeneville.
