SALISBURY, N.C. --- For the second time this week, the Tusculum Pioneers overcame a double-digit deficit in the second half to rally to an 89-77 win at Catawba Saturday afternoon at Goodman Gym in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Trailing 47-36 at halftime, the Pioneers (15-10) outscored the Catawba Indians 53-30 in the second half while shooting a blistering 18-of-25 (72%) in the final period including 7-of-10 from three-point territory.
TU extends its winning streak to five in a row and ends the seven-game winning streak for Catawba (20-7, 15-3 SAC), who already clinched the SAC Piedmont Division title earlier this month.
Tusculum used a key 29-11 run in a span of 9:50 where Pioneers made 12 of 14 shots including a perfect 5-of-5 from junior forward Inady Legiste as TU turned a nine-point deficit (54-45) into a nine-point lead (74-65 with 5:33 left).
Junior Kobe Funderburk led Tusculum with a game-high 20 points as he drilled a career-high six 3-pointers in nine attempts. Legiste finished with 15 points including a dozen in the second half, while sophomore KJ Crump added a season-best 13 points, James West IV had 11 and Jalen Crowder scored his eight points during TU's second half run.
Catawba's Kaleb Wallace had a team-best 16 points off the bench, while the trio of DeAngelo Epps, Peyton Gerald and Javeon Jones scored 11 points apiece as the Indians suffered their first home loss since Dec. 14, 2022, ending an eight-game winning streak at Goodman Gym.
On Wednesday, the Pioneers overcame a 17-point deficit and rallied to a 97-94 double-overtime win at Anderson. TU trailed by as many as 13 in the first half on Saturday as the Tribe posted 11 offensive rebounds in the opening period resulting into 11 second chance points.
TU opened the second half with a 7-2 run as the Pioneers connected on their first three shots including a dunk by Makai Olden, a three-pointer from Kobe Funderburk and a fast break jumper by Connor Jordan as the Pioneers trail 49-43 with 17:55 to go.
Later, Wallace gave Catawba a 54-45 lead with 15:25 remaining before the Pioneers made their move.
Tusculum hit its next six shots including four buckets by Legiste and a pair of Crowder triples as the Pioneers led 59-58 with 12:04 remaining.
On the next possession, TU's Jacob Hobbs came up with the defensive play of the game as he blocked a Jerome Bivins layup which would have given Catawba the lead back, but extended the Tribes' scoring drought as the Indians missed nine consecutive field goals.
Crowder followed with a jumper and Legiste converted another field goal in the paint as Tusculum led 63-58 with 10:44 remaining.
Peyton ended the field goal drought with his offensive board and put-back to trim the deficit to 63-60. The Pioneers later pushed the lead back to five (66-61) following a Justin Mitchell bucket. Jones hits a jumper and after a TU turnover, Dre Nelson put home a dunk to make it a 66-65 game with 8:28 on the clock.
But Hobbs answered with a dunk of his own which sparked an 8-0 spurt for Tusculum as Crump followed with back-to-back three-pointers as the Pioneers went up by 74-65 with 5:33 to go.
Jones scored four straight for Catawba to cut the lead to five (74-69). The Indians defense came up with a steal, but West came up with one of his own as Funderburk hit a three-pointer on the break as TU led 77-69 with 4:23 remaining.
Jones made a one of two free throws and also hit a jumper to bring the home team to within five again (77-72), but like before, Funderburk thwarted the rally with another triple to push the lead back to eight again (80-72) with 3:08 on the board.
With 2:37 remaining, Catawba forced a turnover on a quick jump ball tie up, which caused a reaction by the Tusculum bench resulting into a technical foul. Ray Kowalski made the first technical free throw and made the second, but he entered the lane prior to the shot going in and was waved off.
The Pioneers came up with a steal on the Catawba possession which sparked a deciding 7-0 run as Olden hit a jumper and TU made seven of its final eight free throws to secure the victory.
Tusculum records its fifth straight win over Catawba, the longest TU winning streak in the series history which began in 1970.
The Pioneers finished the game shooting 54.2 percent including 13-of-24 from three-point land and 12-of-18 from the free throw line. After being out-rebounded 26-16 in the first half, the Pioneers won the board battle 25-12 the second half and 41-38 for the game. Olden led TU with a career-high nine rebounds, while Legiste also had nine boards for the victors.
Catawba finished the game shooting 38.6 percent including 4-of-21 from three-point territory including 0-of-8 in the second half.
Over the past five seasons, Tusculum has overcome double-digit deficits on 14 occasions.
Tusculum finishes the regular-season as the No. 2 seed in the SAC Mountain Division and they will host Wingate (No. 3 in Piedmont) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in a quarterfinal game of the SAC Basketball Championship.
