February 25, 2009

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - The Mars Hill College men’s basketball team rallied from a 12-point second half deficit to defeat host Tusculum College, 78-75 Wednesday night in South Atlantic Conference action at Pioneer Arena. The Pioneers (18-9, 10-6 SAC) wrap up their regular season, while the Lions (17-9, 7-8 SAC) have won their last three contests and will be at Lenoir-Rhyne University this Saturday night at 8 p.m. 

Tusculum will be in action again next Wednesday in the quarterfinal round of the 2009 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament.  TC’s opponent and game time will be announced by the conference office on Sunday.

MHC’s Danny Sanders poured in 22 points, including 16 in the second half and sparking the Mars Hill rally.  SAC Player of the Week P.J. Gore posted 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-3 from three-point territory, while Stoney Polite added 13 points off the bench.

Josh Bennett led the Pioneers with his double-double of 20 points and 12 rebounds, while Kyle Moore accounted for 19 points.  Ryan Troutman and Rob Troutman finished with 15 and 13 points, respectively.

With Tusculum leading 51-39 with 16:32 remaining in the game, the Lions went on a 13-5 run to trim the deficit to four (56-52), including 10 points by Gore during the run.  Tusculum would respond with seven straight points of its own, including a pair buckets by Bennett and a three-pointer from Moore as TC led 63-52 with 10:42 left.

Mars Hill would go on an 11-1 run over the next 3:12 to tie the game at 64-64 thanks to three straight treys by Sanders.  After Bennett put TC back up by two with his lay-up, MHC would score the next seven straight points including a Sanders three-pointer with 5:31 remaining to give the Lions their first lead of the evening.  During the spurt, Sanders also canned a pair of free throws and Akeene Coakley made a lay-up with 4:05 left to give MHC its largest lead of the evening.

Ryan Troutman responded with a three-point play with 3:51 remaining to bring the Pioneers back within 71-68.

The Lions would extend its lead back to five at 75-70 with two minutes left on a Gore basket.  But it was Ryan Troutman again who answered for TC with his third trifecta of the night as the Pioneers trailed 75-73 with 1:42 remaining.

Mars Hill came up empty on their next trip down the floor, but the Pioneers committed a turnover on their ensuing possession.  Still trailing by two with less than 30 seconds left, Rob Troutman’s baseline jumper was off-line and TC was forced to foul.  Coakley made a pair of free throws with 18 seconds left to put MHC up 77-73.

The Pioneers cut the deficit in half with Bennett’s rebound and put-back with 6.2 seconds left as TC trailed 77-75.  Coakley made one of two free throws with five seconds remaining opening the window for the Pioneers to tie the game.  But the Taylor Hobbs three-pointer from just across half court hit the front of the rim as the Lions avenge last month’s loss to the Pioneers.

Both teams shot over 50 percent in the contest as TC fired 52.1 percent, including 14-of-23 in the second half (60.9%).  Mars Hill shot 50 percent, including 10-of-19 from three-point territory (52.6%).

The Lions shined from the charity stripe shooting 18-for-22 (81.8%), while the Pioneers shot 68 percent, but only 3-of-7 in the second half (42.9%).

Boxscore...

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