GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Jacob Hobbs scored a career-high 21 points to lead the Tusculum University men's basketball team to a 73-57 South Atlantic Conference win over Newberry College Wednesday night at Pioneer Arena.
The Pioneers (6-4, 6-2 SAC) snap a two-game drought, while the Wolves (4-6, 4-4 SAC) have their four-game winning streak halted.
TU finished the game with 11 three-pointers as Tusculum made four of its first five tries from downtown to jump out to a 14-4 lead in the opening 4:13 of the contest.
Tusculum's Trenton Gibson finished with a game-high 23 points as he scored 20 points for a fourth consecutive game and sixth in eight outings this season. It was also his 22nd career-point contest. Gibson went 8-of-15 from the floor including a career-best five 3-pointers. He tallied four rebounds and dished out six assists.
TU's Brandon Mitchell finished with 12 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for his 12th career double-double. Mitchell had a balanced rebounding effort hauling seven offensive rebounds and seven on the defensive glass. He has accounted for 302 offensive rebounds in his career, making him one of four players in SAC history with over 300 offensive boards. He has 302 to his credit which are the third-most in the conference record book.
Newberry's TJ Brown led the visitors with 16 points, while Quandaveon McCollum and Marcus Ford tallied 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Freshman KJ Crump got the three-point barrage started making a triple six-seconds into the contest with Hobbs following with one of his three trifectas. Gibson would account for a pair of three-pointers and Mitchell connected on a layup as TU led 14-4 at the 15:47 mark of the period.
Newberry answered with a 12-3 run thanks to eight points by Ford including a pair of three-pointers as the Wolves trailed by one (17-16) with 11:41 left in the half.
Tusculum extended the lead back to five at 23-18 following a Gibson three-pointer, but the Wolves
Answered with five in a row and tied the game at 23-23 on a McCollum bucket with 7:06 left before halftime.
TU responded with a 5-0 spurt thanks to a Hobbs' three-point play as the Pioneers would take a 32-27 advantage into the intermission.
McCollum opened the second half with a basket to trim the deficit to three points for the Wolves, but the Pioneers would explode for an 18-2 run to take its largest lead of the night at 50-31 with 14:19 left in the contest.
The Wolves trimmed the deficit to single digits on three occasions down the stretch including 59-50 with 6:39 to go following a pair of Ford free throws.
But the Pioneers would put the game out of reach with a 12-2 run sparked by six points from Hobbs and four markers by Inady Legiste as TU led 71-52 with under three minutes to go.
Tusculum finished the game shooting 26-of-60 from the floor (43.3%) including 15-of-30 in the second half. Newberry was held to 37 percent for the game including just 4-of-20 from beyond the arc.
The Pioneers out-rebounded the Wolves by a 42-31 margin including 22-12 in the second half. Tusculum accounted for 20 assists on 26 made field goals including four helpers each by Justin Mitchell and Crump.
Gibson moves into 12th place on Tusculum's all-time scoring list with 1,365 career points, surpassing former All-Smoky Mountain Athletic Conference and All-Volunteer State Athletic Conference great Bob Miles who posted 1,349 markers from 1958-1962. Gibson needs 11 points to pass former All-VSAC standout Jerry Wallen (1375 from 1963-1967) for 11th place.
Mitchell also moved up the Tusculum record book as his 681 career rebounds are the fifth-most in school history. He moved leap-frogged former TU greats Dante' Owens (673 from 1990-1994) and Jeremy Fortner (676 from 1996-2000) and is two boards shy of passing former All-SAC center Chase Mounce (682 from 2013-2017) for fourth place.
Tusculum will close out the pre-holiday portion of its schedule this Saturday as the Pioneers travel to Lenoir-Rhyne University for a 4 p.m. contest and historic Shuford Memorial Gymnasium.
