ANDERSON, S.C. --- The Tusculum University men's basketball team used a key 17-4 run in the second half to secure a 75-59 South Atlantic Conference victory at Anderson University Saturday afternoon at the Abney Athletic Center.
The Pioneers (19-7, 19-5 SAC) end the regular season with a five-game winning streak to claim sole possession of third place in the SAC standings and earn the No. 3 seed in next week's conference tournament. TU will host No. 6 seed Newberry College at 7 p.m. at Pioneer Arena in a SAC Quarterfinal match-up. Anderson ends its season at 11-17 overall (8-16 SAC).
Tusculum's 19 SAC wins are the most by the Pioneers since joining the league in 1998 and its .791 league winning percentage is the best ever by a TU program. The 19 league wins are tied for the seventh-most in SAC history.
TU also tied a school single-season record with its 10 road victory, matching the 1992-93 squad's 10 away wins.
The Pioneers cap off a remarkable week as Tusculum went 4-0 over the past six days to run its season victory tally to 19 which are tied for the fifth-most wins in a season in school history.
Ten different Pioneers scored on the day led by Joshua Scott's 12-point performance. Trenton Gibson accounted for 11 points, giving him 1,609 for his career as he passes former TU great Dante' Owens (1606 pts from 1990-1994) for sixth-place on the program's all-time scoring list.
Jalen Crowder came off the bench to notch 11 markers, while James West IV scored nine points. Brandon Mitchell added eight points and hauled in a game-high eight rebounds, which moves him into sole possession of second place in the TU record book with 776 career boards, moving past Ray Christian (775 from 1990-1994).
Inady Legiste finished with eight points, six rebounds, two assists and three blocked shots, giving him 38 for the season which are tied for the ninth-most by a Pioneer.
Anderson senior Parker Dortch scored a game-high 22 points in his collegiate finale, while Collin Mills scored 17 points off the bench.
With the score tied 12-12 in the opening period, Tusculum went on a 14-1 run to take a 26-13 lead wat the 7:28 mark following a jumper by Brandon Mitchell. TU would push the lead out to as much as 19 (39-20) before settling for a 41-26 advantage at the intermission.
The Trojans trimmed the deficit to 42-31 following a Dortch layup with 16:51 left in the contest. With TU leading 44-32, the Pioneers erupted for a 17-4 run over the next 4:31 to take its largest lead of the game at 61-35 including a three-pointer by KJ Crump with 10 minutes remaining.
Anderson roared back with an 18-4 run of its own over the next 5:05 to cut the deficit to 65-53. But four free throws by Gibson and back-to-back 3-pointers by Crowder completed the season-sweep over the Trojans and its sixth straight win over Anderson.
Tusculum shot 49.1 percent from the floor and held an opponent under 60 points for a seventh time this season and 17th occasion over the last four years.
