GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University men's basketball team used a 19-4 run spanning the first and second halves as the Pioneers rallied from a nine-point deficit to knock off visiting Catawba College 78-66 Saturday afternoon in South Atlantic Conference men's basketball action.
Tusculum (7-8, 5-4 SAC) records its first three-game winning streak of the season and improves to 6-2 at Pioneer Arena this year. TU head coach J.T. Burton notched his 91st win in Greeneville and ties Hall of Fame skipper Folly Malone (1976-1983) for second place in program history.
Tusculum senior guard Connor Jordan scored a game-high 21 points while tallying six rebounds, four assists and a career-best four steals as TU defeats Catawba for the sixth time in the last seven meetings.
TU held Catawba to a season-low 66 points while limiting the Indians to 38.3 percent shooting including 10-of-28 in the second half (36%) for the defending SAC Tournament Champions
Redshirt freshman Bryce Jackson contributed 16 points and six rebounds, while KJ Crump and Josiah Morris accounted for 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Catawba (8-4, 5-3 SAC) got 17 points from Javeon Jones, while Shad Thomas and Justin Banks had 10 points each. Banks also hauled in 10 rebounds including five on the offensive glass as he recorded his second double-double of the year.
Trailing 33-24 at the 3:44 mark of the first period, Tusculum went on an 11-2 run to tie the game at 35-35. Catawba got a tip-in by Thomas in the final minute of the half as Indians took a 37-35 lead at the intermission. TU scored the first eight points of the second period, sparked by back-to-back three-pointers from junior Josiah Morris as the Pioneers led 43-37 with 17:40 remaining in the game.
With Tusculum ahead 45-39, the Indians scored five straight including a three-point play by Jones to trim the deficit to 45-44. TU answered with a 6-0 run to extend the lead to 51-44 following a steal and layup by Crump with 12:22 left on the clock.
The Pioneers took its first double-digit lead of the contest at 61-50 with 7:51 to go following a dunk from junior Akeem Odusipe.
Catawba answered with a 6-0 spurt of its own over the next 1:44 to cut the TU lead to 61-56. The run was stoked by dunks from Banks and DeAngelo Epps.
But the Pioneers slowed the Catawba momentum as Jackson buried his second triple of the game and KJ Crump converted a running jumper to go ahead by double-digits again at 66-56 with five minutes remaining.
The Indians would get as close as six on two occasions down the stretch including 72-66 with 1:59 to go. But the Pioneers would score the final six points of the game as the Indians came up empty on its final four possessions.
Tusculum finished the game shooting 47 percent from the floor including 15-of-27 (56%) in the second half as the Pioneers outscored Catawba 43-29 in the final period.
TU out-rebounded the Indians by a 42-33 margin as Odusipe hauled in 10 boards for his fifth double-figure rebound tally of the season. Graduate student Jacob Hobbs added seven boards including six on the offensive end while also dishing out three assists and recording three steals.
Tusculum forced 20 turnovers on a season-best 15 steals which are tied for the eighth-most in school history.
Jordan records his team-leading sixth 20-point performance of the season and the 11th of his collegiate career. He also eclipsed the 900-point plateau as a collegian, recording 910 points in his 85-game career.
The Pioneers, who improve to 4-1 in January, will close out the month with a three-game road trip beginning with Wednesday's contest at longtime in-state foe Lincoln Memorial University. Tip-off time is 7:30 p.m. from Tex Turner Arena.
