Pioneers Down Bluefield State 95-89 for Third Straight Victory

Shown records ninth double-double with 22 points, 13 rebounds

Matt Shown scored a career-high 22 points and hauled in 13 rebounds as the Tusculum College men’s basketball team defeated visiting Bluefield State College 95-89 Tuesday night at Pioneer Arena.

It was Shown’s ninth double-double of the year, while the Pioneers recorded their third straight victory.Tusculum will play its third game in as many days and fourth in a five-day span when the Pioneers hostAndersonUniversity on Wednesday in TC’s home finale.

Tusculum (7-19) placed five players in double figures, including senior Mason Fox’s career-high 19 points as he went 5-of-9 from the floor and 9-of-10 from the free throw line. He also tallied four assists and three rebounds.

Zach Davis contributed 18 points, five rebounds, three assists and a career-best four blocked shots. Cory Fagan poured in 14 points, including three 3-pointers. Javon Price totaled 10 points, six rebounds and two assists.

BluefieldState’s Mark Durgan, the No. 8 scorer in NCAA Division II (23.3 ppg), led the visitors with a game-high 29 points. Teammate Dajon Reno (16th leading scorer in DII – 22.5 ppg) accounted for 28 points, including five 3-pointers in the loss. Avery Holliday added 11 points, while Derrek Farr posted five points and 13 rebounds for the Big Blues (10-13).

Tusculum’s Johnathan Knight tallied four points and a season-high 10 rebounds. TC’s leading scorer Chase Mounce, played in only eight minutes before fouling out with six points, two rebounds and a blocked shot, giving him 53 rejections on the season. He needs one more block to tie the TC single-season record of 54 set during the 1990-91 campaign by Santana Waldon.

The Pioneers used a 7-0 run in the first half to take a 22-12 lead with 12:52 remaining. Davis capped off the run with a three-point play. TC took its largest lead of the game at 40-29 following a Shown layup with 6:12 left in the period.

TC held a 43-33 advantage after another three-point play from Davis with 3:48 remaining in the half. The Big Blues went on a 10-1 run to trim the deficit to 44-43 following a Reno bucket with 1:19 on the clock. Shown snapped the BSC run with a layup before the half as the Pioneers took a 46-43 lead into the locker room.

In the second half, the Big Blues took its second lead of the game when Avery Holliday buried a three-pointer as Bluefield State led 53-52 with 17:37 left in the contest.

Tusculum answered with five straight points to take a 57-53 lead after a steal and layup from Price with 15:11 remaining. But back came the Big Blues as the visitors used a 10-3 run, including a Jacari Smith three-pointer and a Holliday layup as BSC regained the advantage at 63-60 with 13:07 to go in regulation.

The lead would exchange hands several times before the game was tied for the seventh time in the contest at 72-72 with 6:44 remaining. The Pioneers went on an 8-2 run thanks to back-to-back layups from Davis and buckets from Mounce and Fox as TC led 80-74 with four minutes to go.

The Big Blues would not go away as they chipped away at the deficit and trimmed the TC lead to 82-80 following Durgan trey with 1:40 left in the game.

Shown gave the Pioneers some breathing room with his three-point play with 1:19 remaining. Following a pair of Durgan free throws to bring BSC to within four (86-82), Joshua Windham was whistled for an intentional foul with 43 seconds left.

Shown made both of his free throws to push the Pioneer lead to 86-80 and Tusculum had possession of the ball. Price was fouled on the inbounds pass and he converted his two free throws to extend the TC lead to eight (90-82) with 42 seconds left.

Durgan would score four points in a row as Bluefield State trailed 91-86 with 28 seconds left. But Davis put the game away with his breakaway dunk to put the game out of reach.

The Pioneers shot 52 percent from the floor and out-rebounded the Big Blues by a 45-34 margin. Bluefield State shot 44 percent and connected on 13 three-pointers.