Hatfield scores 14 in road loss at King

The King University men’s basketball team connected on 16 three-pointers as the Tornado led wire-to-wire in a 91-52 victory over visiting Tusculum College Tuesday night at Student Center Complex.

King (6-1) forced 27 Tusculum turnovers on the evening, resulting into 31 points for the home team

Thirteen (13) different KU players found their way into the scoring column as the Tornado recorded its fifth consecutive win.

Logan Lyle led all scorers with 17 points, including four 3-pointers, while also posting six rebounds and four steals. Mikquell Jackson added 13 points, while C.J. Good and Drew Sandifer scored 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Tusculum freshman Taylor Hatfield led the Pioneers (1-7) with 14 points off the bench, while sophomores Chase Mounce and Zach Davis contributed nine points each. Junior Johnathan Knight and sophomore Cory Fagan tallied six points each, while Gunnar Beamer finished with five points and Mason Fox finished with three markers.

King shot 48.5 percent from both the field and beyond the three-point arc as the Tornado connected on 16 of its 33 from long range attempts. KU jumped out to a 15-0 lead in the first five minutes of the contest, including a Lyle four-point play.

Mounce scored a layup to snap the scoreless drought as TC went on an 8-4 run, which included three-pointers by Fagan and Hatfield to trim the deficit to 19-8 at the 10:38 mark of the first half.

KU answered with 14 unanswered points to take its largest lead of the half at 33-8 with six minutes left in the period. TC followed with a 13-4 spurt thanks to a pair of treys from Hatfield and a Fagan trifecta.

KU’s Nathaniel Hughes knocked down the Tornado’s eight 3-pointer of the half to give King a 40-21 lead at the intermission.

KU put the game out of reach with an 18-2 run over a span of 5:18 to lead 64-31 with 11:21 remaining in the contest.

Tusculum was limited to 37.2 percent from the floor and 35.3 percent from three-point territory. The Pioneers did win the battle of boards, out-rebounding King by a 41-30 margin.

TC returns to action on Thursday when they travel to NCAA Division I UNC Asheville for a 7 p.m. contest. The game will be an exhibition contest for the Pioneers.