Pioneers Get Balanced Effort in 74-57 Win at Mars Hill
Javon Price poured in 20 points as the Tusculum College men’s basketball team posted a 74-57 South Atlantic Conference victory at Mars Hill University Monday evening at Burt Stanford Arena.
Due to weather postponements, the Pioneers (6-19, 6-14 SAC) are in the midst of a grueling stretch of playing four games in a five day. Tusculum has posted back-to-back road wins in the last 48 hours, including Monday’s 17-point victory at Mars Hill (10-16, 5-15 SAC) andSaturday’s 85-76 overtime win at Lenoir-Rhyne University.
No rest for the weary as TC is back in action Tuesday night when they host non-conference foe Bluefield State College for a 7 p.m. contest at Pioneer Arena. Tusculum will follow with its home finale on Wednesday, hosting Anderson University.
Price recorded his second straight 20-point performance and seventh of the season as he shot 8-of-16 from the floor, including four 3-pointers to go along with his three rebounds and two assists.
Chase Mounce accounted for 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor and went a perfect 4-for-4 at the free throw line. Mounce also posted eight rebounds in his 32 minutes of play. Matt Shown finished with eight points and eight boards as all of his rebound production came in the second half.
Gunnar Beamer added eight points, while Zach Davis contributed four points, four assists and a game-high 10 rebounds. Johnathan Knight tallied six points and six boards off the bench, while Mason Fox posted four points and dished out five assists in the victory.
Mars Hill’s Isaiah Cuthbertson led the Lions with 12 points and six rebounds, while Michael Carson added 10 points for the home team.
With the score tied at 14-all in the first half, Tusculum erupted for a 19-5 run over a 9:08 span to take a 33-19 lead with 3:27 left in the opening period. TC would maintain its double-digit advantage for the remainder of the half before taking a 40-26 lead into the intermission.
The Lions went on a 6-0 run to start the second half and trim the deficit to 40-32, capped off by a Carson three-pointer.
The Pioneers responded with a 17-7 run over the next 6:04 to increase their lead to 57-39 with 12:29 left in regulation. MHU scored six straight to get back to within a dozen (57-45) with 11 minutes to go.
Tusculum answered with a 9-0 spurt to take its largest lead of the contest at 66-45 with 5:55 on the scoreboard. The run was capped off by a layup from Knight.
The Lions scored seven straight, including a Justin Yeargin three-pointer with 4:41 to go. But the Pioneers thwarted the rally with a 6-0 spurt, which included four points from Knight as TC sealed the victory.
The Pioneers finished the night shooting 46 percent from the floor, while limiting the Lions to shoot 29 percent from the field, including 4-of-21 from three-point territory. TC out-rebounded MHU by a 46-39 margin as the Pioneers won the battle in the paint as well, outscoring the Lions 36-22 in the post.
