MARS HILL, N.C. --- In a game that was full of runs, Tusculum closed out the day with a 23-8 spurt to lead the Pioneers to a 77-60 South Atlantic Conference win at Mars Hill Wednesday afternoon at Stanford Arena.
TU (6-5, 3-3 SAC) closes out its pre-Christmas schedule with a victory, while handing the MHU (7-3, 2-3 SAC) its first home loss of the year.
Tusculum used a 26-7 run in the first half which included a span where the Lions missed 19 straight field goals as the Pioneers led 36-12.
TU, who led by 20 (40-20) at the half and by 21 (50-29) with 13:35 remaining. But Mars Hill nearly mounted a comeback for the record books with a 23-4 run over the next seven minutes and trimmed the deficit to two (54-52) with 6:37 on the clock. But a 23-8 run over the final 5:35 would seal the victory for the Pioneers.
Tusculum senior Malachi Hale scored a season-best 19 points off the bench with four 3-pointers, including a key four-point play to spark the final run for the visitors. Hale went 7-of-10 from the field including 4-of-6 from beyond the arc.
TU graduate student Bryce Jackson had 19 points and eight rebounds, while junior TJ Printup contributed 14 markers and eight boards in the victory. Freshman Jordan Attia added a 10 points while hauling in five rebounds and dishing out two assists.
Mars Hill was led in scoring by Jaheim Taylor with 16 points, while Caden Owens went 10-for-10 from the foul stripe as he finished with 13 points in the loss.
Tusculum shot 26-of-63 from the field for 41 percent while going 12-of-28 from three-point territory (43%). Mars Hill finished the game shooting 18-of-65 from the floor (28%) despite shooting 6-of-32 in the first half (19%). The Lions made 10 triples on 45 attempts, while shooting 14-of-15 from the charity stripe (93%).
Tusculum edged the Lions on the boards by a 46-41 margin, while each team accounted for six blocked shots apiece. Printup led TU with three rejections, while Wesley Johnson added two blocked shots for the Pioneers.
Jackson continues his climb up the Tusculum scoring chart as he has 985 career points and is 15 shy of becoming the 30th member of the program's 1,000-point club.
The Pioneers return to action on Jan. 3 when they host Bluefield State for a 4 p.m. non-conference contest at Pioneer Arena.
