GREENVILLE, S.C. --- Catawba's Javeon Jones scored a game-high 22 points including 16 in the second half as the Indians defeated Tusculum 84-73 Saturday night in a semifinal game of the 2023 South Atlantic Conference Men's Basketball Championship at Timmons Arena.
The Catawba Indians (22-7) avenge last Saturday's 12-point regular-season home loss to the Pioneers (16-11) and advance to Sunday's Championship game where they will face UVA Wise at 4 p.m.
Tusculum, who has its six-game winning streak snapped, will await word Sunday night for word of a possible NCAA Division II postseason berth.
Jones finished the game with nine rebounds and four assists to go along with his 22 markers. The Catawba trio of Adrian Scarborough, DeAngelo Epps and Peyton Gerald scored 13 points each, while Kris Robinson added nine points, including a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line.
Catawba shot 40 percent for the game and made only two 3-pointers (in 15 tries), but the Indians got to the free throw line as the Tribe went 26-of-35 from the stripe (74.3%) including 18-of-22 in the second half (81.8%).
Tusculum was led in scoring by senior Justin Mitchell as he poured in 20 points off the bench on 8-of-12 shooting and grabbed six rebounds. Connor Jordan had 18 points and a career-high nine rebounds. He also dished out four assists and went 6-of-8 from the free throw line.
TU freshman Kyle Brown added 12 points and a season-best nine rebounds, while Jalen Crowder scored 11 points thanks to three 3-poitners. He also posted a career-best six rebounds. All-SAC first team forward Inady Legiste played in 19 foul-plagued minutes where he was held to seven points and five rebounds before fouling out of the game.
Catawba jumped out of the gate on fire scoring the first eight points of the night to take an 8-0 lead at the 15:41 mark of the period. The Indians led 12-4 later in the half before Tusculum went on a 9-0 spurt tot take its first lead of the night at 13-12 following a Crowder triple.
Tusculum led by three on five occasions and were ahead by as many as five at 24-19 following a Jordan bucket with 6:34 remaining before halftime.
The Indians scored seven unanswered points to take a 26-24 lead following a Scarborough basket just under the 5:00 mark. TU scored five in a row as Crowder hit a three-pointer and Jordan scored on a jumper to go back on top at 29-26.
The Catawba Indians went on another 7-0 spurt to go ahead 33-29 before settling for a 33-31 lead at halftime.
Catawba opened the second half with an 8-2 run to go up 41-33. Tusculum got five consecutive points from Mitchell to cut the deficit to 41-38 with 17:20 remaining. The Tribe answered with seven straight to take its first double-digit lead of the game at 48-38.
The lead later swelled to a dozen (52-40) before the Pioneers answered with a 13-4 spurt as Legiste hit a three-pointer and Tusculum went 8-of-8 from the free throw line as TU trailed 56-53 with 10:18 left in the contest.
Catawba went back up by seven and TU trailed 60-56 as Jacob Hobbs made one of two free throws. The Indians scored seven in a row including three straight free throws by Robinson and four points by Scarborough as Catawba led 67-56 with 6:11 left.
TU's KJ Crump made two free throws and Brown converted a jumper to cut into the Catawba lead and trail 67-60 with 5:22 remaining. The Pioneers worked the deficit down six on three occasions including 77-71 with 1:34 left. But that would be as close as Tusculum would get as Catawba made nine of its final 11 free throw attempts to keep their distance from the Pioneers.
Tusculum finished the game shooting 37 percent including 5-of-24 from three-point territory (21%) and 18-of-24 at the line (75%). The Pioneers held a 48-45 edge in rebounding, but TU committed 15 turnovers resulting into 16 points for Catawba.
The NCAA II Tournament field will be announced on Sunday night at www.NCAA.com. Entering the weekend, the Pioneers were the No. 8 ranked team in the Southeast Region, while Catawba was listed sixth.
