Last Second Free Throws Sink Lions

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - JD Miller connected on a pair of game-winning free throws with four seconds remaining as the Tusculum College men's basketball team held on for an 86-84 South Atlantic Conference win over cross-mountain rival Mars Hill College Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Arena.

MHC's Kacey Holt finished with a team-best 17 points off the bench, including four 3-pointers, while Will White posted 16 points and James Fields added 15.

Five Pioneers recorded double figure scoring including Addison Flynn and Keith Jumper with 25 and 22 points, respectively. Darius Carter posted 14 points, Miller added 11 markers, and Neal Spinks tallied 10 in the winning effort. Jumper also added 13 rebounds.

The contest was a physical one as the two teams combined for 41 fouls, including four technical fouls.

Tusculum shot 26-of-29 from the free throw line (89.7%), including 18 in a row to start the game.

With TC leading 61-59 with 10 minutes remaining, the Pioneers (4-10, 2-4 SAC) went on a 12-3 run over a 5:24 span to take their largest lead of the game at 73-62 with 4:43 left following a layup by Miller. The Lions (3-11, 0-6 SAC) trimmed the deficit to seven points at 76-69 following a steal and two free throws by Carter Wright with under three minutes to go.

Keith Jumper converted a dunk and Flynn made two free throws following a technical foul on MHC's Kacey Holt to move the Pioneers back out to an 11-point lead with 2:06 remaining on the clock.

But the Lions rallied with a 12-2 run in a span of 1:25 to tie the game at 82-82 on an acrobatic layup by Myles Tate with 41 seconds on the clock. Tate would score five of his eight points during the run, including a three-point play. Mars Hill forced three TC turnovers in the final two minutes, converting those miscues into seven points.

On the ensuing possession, Flynn would get the ball on the right baseline and connected on a layup in the paint to put the Pioneers back out in front at 84-82 with 22.4 seconds left. But five seconds later, White converted a layup in the lane to knot the contest at 84-84 with 17.2 seconds left on the scoreboard.

Tusculum would work the clock down and found JD Miller in the lane, but was fouled on his shot attempt with four seconds left. Following a timeout, Miller calmly made the two free throws to put the Pioneers ahead for good.

Kevin Haynes would get off a 20-foot three-point shot at the buzzer, but ball hit off the side rim to end the game.

One of the big moments of the contest occurred in the first half as MHC's leading scorer (13.4 ppg) and the league's top-rebounder (11.2 rpg) Khouraichi Thiam put home a thunderous dunk. But he would be whistled for a technical foul for hanging on the rim, his second technical violation of the contest, resulting in his ejection from the contest. He was issued an unsportsmanlike technical foul earlier in the half, along with TC's Keith Jumper. Thiam would leave the game with four points and two rebounds in his 10 minutes of action.

The Pioneers would go on a 6-0 run and take a 17-10 lead at the 9:09 mark of the half. With TC leading 20-13 following a three-pointer by Flynn, the Lions used a 10-2 spurt to take the lead at 23-22 thanks to Holt's three-pointer.

Neither team would enjoy more than a three-point advantage for the remainder of the half. With the score tied at 37-all, Carter connected on a base-line jumper with three seconds left to give Tusculum a two-point lead (39-37) at the intermission. TC shot 34 percent in the half (12-of-35), but went 13-of-13 at the charity stripe and out-rebounded the Lions by a 24-15 margin, including 12-4 on the offensive boards in the opening stanza.

TC finished the game shooting 42 percent from the floor, including 16-of-31 in the second half (51.6%). Mars Hill would shoot 46 percent from the field and a solid 18-of-22 from the foul line (81.8%), all in the second half.

Tusculum closes out its three-game home-stand on Wednesday night when they host SAC foe Lenoir-Rhyne University for an 8 p.m. contest. Mars Hill will be on the road Wednesday as the Lions face Catawba College at 8 p.m.