Tusculum sweeps Lenior-Rhyne

Kevin Vest recorded 23 points and the Tusculum College men’s
basketball used a 22-5 first half run en route to a 70-54 South Atlantic
Conference victory over Lenoir-Rhyne University Wednesday night at Pioneer
Arena.

The Pioneers (10-15, 7-10 SAC) avenge last month’s
four-point loss to the Bears, while moving within one game of fifth place in
the league standings.  L-R (12-14, 8-9) drops to a tie for fifth in the
SAC with Carson-Newman and is one-game behind fourth-place Newberry.

Vest shot 9-of-13 from the floor and 3-of-6 from three-point
territory, while grabbing five rebounds and recording four steals.  Justin
Steigerwald added 13 points, eight rebounds and five assists, while Tommy
Klempin tallied 12 points, nine boards and shot a perfect 6-of-6 from the
field.

The Bears (12-14, 8-9 SAC) were led by Allen Jones 21
points, as he fired 8-of-15 from the field, while D.J. Blackmon added 13
points, six rebounds and four assists in the loss.

The Pioneers (10-15, 7-10 SAC) scored 13 unanswered points
in a span of 5:27 during their 22-5 first half spurt and led by as many as 19
on three different occasions before taking a 38-22 into the intermission.

“I’m very pleased with how we came out of the blocks. 
We were clicking as a team and we made some shots and I thought we were very
good on the offensive boards in the first half as well,” said Tusculum head
coach Michael Jones.

Tusculum jumped out to a 15-8 lead to start the contest,
thanks to three 3-pointers, including a pair of Nicholas Spinks, who finished
with eight markers.

The Bears answered in the opening moments in the second
period as L-R scored 11 straight points, sparked by a Kevin Davis’
three-pointer to start the half and draw the visitors to within 38-33 with
16:33 remaining in the contest.

While L-R was hitting on all cylinders to start the second
half, Tusculum was not as the Pioneers committed three turnovers and missed its
only shot attempt in the first 3:30 of the period.

“We weren’t very good offensively coming out of the locker
room,” Coach Jones added.  “The zone gave us some problems, but we made
some adjustments and Kevin Vest made some huge steals for us down the stretch
to keep us out in front.”

TC bounced back with five points from Vest including a
three-pointer and a steal-and-a-layup as the Pioneers pushed out to a 43-33
lead.

Tusculum would move out to an 11-point advantage at 46-35
following Steigerwald’s three-point play with 14:17 left on the clock. 
But L-R fought back with six straight points, including Allan Jones’
three-point play as TC now led 46-41 with 12:54 remaining.

With TC holding onto a 50-45 lead with 9:24 left, the
Pioneers responded with a 6-0 run of its own, including back-to-back baskets by
Klempin and a Vest jumper as Tusculum vaulted to a 56-45 with 6:38 left.

The Bears cut the deficit back to within seven (56-49)
following consecutive field goals by Jones, but Vest fired back with five
straight points, including his trey with 3:24 remaining to give the Pioneers a
double-digit lead at 61-49 and ending the L-R rally.

Tusculum finished the game shooting 56.5 percent from the
floor, including 12-of-20 in the second half (60%).  TC won the rebounding
battle by a 29-21 margin and out-scored the Bears in every team statistical
category including points in the paint (32-22), points off turnovers (20-13),
second-chance points (11-7), fast break points (8-6) and bench points (13-3).

Lenoir-Rhyne shot well from the free throw line going
15-of-17 for 88.2 percent, including 11-of-13 in the second half (84.6%).

Tusculum will close out the regular season on Saturday when
the Pioneers host Mars Hill College for a 4 p.m. contest.  It will be the
final home game for Tusculum seniors Tommy Klempin, Justin Steigerwald, Anton
Tuz and Kevin Vest.

                                              ####

Alishia Mosley scored
eight of her 15 points in overtime, including the go-ahead three-point play
with 1:20 left, as Tusculum College pulled out a 61-52 victory over Lenoir-Rhyne
University in a key South Atlantic Conference women's basketball matchup
Wednesday night at Pioneer Arena.



The Pioneers (17-8 overall, 11-6 SAC) outscored the Bears (19-7, 11-6) by a
14-5 margin in the extra period to move into a tie for third place in the
conference standings with Lenoir-Rhyne, one game behind co-leaders Catawba and
Wingate with one regular-season game remaining. With the win, Tusculum has
assured itself of a home game in next Wednesday's Food Lion SAC Tournament
quarterfinals.



Mosley was held scoreless in the first half, but scored 15 of the Pioneers' 34
points after intermission as Tusculum swept the season series from Lenoir-Rhyne
and extended their winning streak over the Bears to six games. She went
6-for-11 from the field, including 2-for-3 from three-point range, and grabbed
four rebounds in 25 minutes off the Tusculum bench.



Staci Hicks shot 6-for-6 from the field and finished with 13 points and five
rebounds, and April McCann had 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists for
the Pioneers, who shot 43.6 percent (24-for-55) from the field in the game and
held the Bears to just 30 percent shooting (18-for-60), including 1-for-14 from
three-point range.



Whitley Culler paced the Bears with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Cameron
Sealey added 11 points and six boards but shot just 4-for-18 from the field. In
the overtime period, the Bears hit just two of their eight shots and turned the
ball over three times.



"I can't say enough about Alishia Mosley. Her production over the last
five games has been tremendous. It's the perfect time of the year for her to do
that," said Pioneer head coach Adell Harris. "She's had to learn a
lot about my expectations of her, and she's getting it at the right time of the
year. She's never lost focus or confidence in her abilities, and it's being
rewarded."



The teams opened the overtime period tied at 47, but Mosley gave the Pioneers a
49-47 lead with a jumper on the opening possession. A free throw by Culler
brought the Bears within 49-48 with 3:15 to go, and she followed with a
go-ahead jumper with 1:54 left for a 50-49 Lenoir-Rhyne lead.



Mosley then converted a driving, twisting layup while being fouled with 1:20
left, and drilled the free throw to push Tusculum ahead for good at 52-50. After
a turnover by the Bears, Mosley connected on a three-pointer with 49.4 seconds
left as the Pioneers went ahead 55-50. Kendal Baxter sank a breakaway layup
with 31.6 seconds to go for a 57-50 Pioneer lead, and McCann and Linda
Aughburns each sank a pair of foul shots in the final 25 seconds to seal the
win.



"That's a tournament game right there. Lenoir-Rhyne gave everything they
had and then some. They played as hard as they possibly could, and we responded
when we needed to," said Harris. "The game wasn't clean from either
team, but we played through our mistakes."



The Pioneers led 43-38 with 7:20 left in regulation, but Sealey hit a
three-pointer and Whitney Brinkley nailed a layup to tie the game at 43-43 with
5:36 left. A layup by Sealey gave the Bears a 45-43 lead with 5:05 remaining,
only to have Hicks knot the score at 45-45 with 2:46 left. Culler converted a
layup with 1:58 remaining to again give the Bears a two-point lead at 47-45,
and Hicks once again responded inside to level the contest at 47-47 with 1:38
remaining. Neither team was able to convert a go-ahead shot in the final
minute, and the teams went to overtime tied 47-47.



Tusculum took an early 12-4 lead behind five points from Hicks, but
Lenoir-Rhyne came back to tie the game at 15-15 on a jumper by Danielle
Bongiorno with 6:05 left in the first half. The teams were tied 21-21 with two
minutes left in the half, but the Pioneers' Nequoiah Anderson hit a pair of
three-pointers to send Tusculum to the locker room holding a 27-21 lead.



McCann led the Pioneers with eight first-half points, with Anderson and Hicks
adding seven points apiece. Culler and Bongiorno shared the team lead in
scoring for Lenoir-Rhyne in the first half with eight points each, but the
Bears shot just 24 percent (6-for-25) from the field as a team. Only the Bears'
9-for-12 effort at the foul line in the first half kept them within range of
the Pioneers, who shot 2-for-7 at the stripe in the opening 20 minutes.



Lenoir-Rhyne finished with a 43-39 advantage on the boards in the game, though
Aughburns led all players with 10 rebounds for the Pioneers. Caroline Laughter
grabbed eight rebounds and Alexis Katt pulled six for the Bears, who had 16
offensive rebounds to nine by the Pioneers.



Tusculum will close out its 2011-12 regular season Saturday afternoon at 2:00
p.m. when it hosts Mars Hill at Pioneer Arena.