GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Fourteen different Tusculum players found their way into the scoring column, led by junior Jalen Crowder's season-high 17 points as the Pioneers knocked off visiting Anderson 88-60 Wednesday night in a South Atlantic Conference men's basketball match-up at Pioneer Arena.
TU (12-5, 12-3 SAC) used a 21-4 run over a five-minute interval spanning the first and second halves to coast to their fifth consecutive victory over the Trojans (9-11, 6-10 SAC). It was also the largest margin of victory over Anderson in the series dating back to 2007.
Crowder went 6-of-7 from the field including 5-of-6 from beyond the three-point arc, surpassing last Wednesday's previous best of 15 markers against No. 22 Queens.
TU's Trenton Gibson added 13 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in his 26 minutes on the floor. Justin Mitchell posted 10 first half points on 5-of-7 shooting and William Vedder added nine points and seven boards as the Pioneers have won seven of their last eight contests and remain a half game behind SAC front-runner Queens (17-3, 13-3 SAC).
Anderson's Parker Dortch finished with 14 points, while Rahim Jenkins and Crosby James II accounted for 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Tusculum went 35-for-72 from the floor including 20-of-40 in the opening period to take a 48-29 lead at the intermission. TU went 10-of-26 from three-point territory and out-rebounded the Trojans by a 46-36 margin including 17-12 on the offensive boards resulting into 15 second-chance points. The Pioneers forced 14 turnovers on eight steals, resulting into 16 points for the home team.
With all 14 players scoring, Tusculum held a commanding 57-25 lead in bench points over Anderson.
The two teams went back and forth early as the Trojans took a 10-8 lead at the 15:32 mark as Dortch connected on back-to-back buckets. But the Pioneers went on a 10-0 run over 4:30 which was capped off by an Inady Legiste fast-break layup as TU led 18-10.
Anderson responded with five straight points by Josh Livingston as the visitors trimmed the deficit to three (18-15) with 9:51 left in the half. TU came back with an 8-1 spurt which included a James West IV three-pointer as the shot clock was expiring to lead by double digits (26-16) at the 7:18 mark.
Anderson answered with five points from Jenkins to cut the deficit to five and would later make it a four-point game (28-24) after Dortch made one of his two free throw tries. Vedder converted a three-point play and Gibson hit a jumper off the glass to push the TU advantage to 33-24 with 4:07 left in the period.
A Dortch three-point play made it a six-point game (33-27) but the Pioneers closed out the final 3:11 with a 15-2 spark to carry a 19-point lead into the locker room.
Tusculum opened the second half making its first four shots and five of its first six field goals to lead 59-35. The Pioneers maintained its 20-point cushion and led by as many as 29 before settling for the 28-point victory.
TU's Brandon Mitchell finished the game with four offensive rebounds, giving him 329 for his career and moving into sole possession of second place in the SAC record book in that category.
Tusculum will close out its three-game home-stand on Saturday when they host Lenoir-Rhyne for a 4 p.m. contest. TU defeated the Bears 69-49 in last month's first meeting.
