ANDERSON, S.C. - Tusculum junior guard Kendall Patterson's sixth 3-pointer of the night with 35 seconds left lifted Tusculum to a 70-66 victory over Anderson in South Atlantic Conference men's basketball action, Wednesday night at the Abney Athletic Center.
Anderson slipped to 5-16 on the season with a 3-12 mark in the league, while suffering its eighth consecutive setback. Tusculum moved to 10-10 overall and 6-9 in the conference by sweeping the season series.
Sophomore guard Tre' Fields led the Trojan attack with 19 points on the strength of six 3-pointers on the night, while sophomore guard Maurice Howard added 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists for the Black and Gold. Junior guard Lex Davis was just shy of a double-double with nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
After the Pioneers opened the contest by taking an 8-3 lead inside the opening three minutes, Fields countered by scoring seven unanswered points for the Trojans and capped the scoring spree with a rare four-point play to give AU a 10-8 advantage at the 16:16 mark.
With the score knotted at 14 apiece and the clock showing 14:08, the Trojans rattled off an 18-6 run, with Howard posting six points and fellow sophomore guard Alex Greisen netting four points. The 12-point advantage marked the largest by either squad, with the Trojans carrying a 39-28 edge into halftime.
But the Pioneers roared out of the break with 10 unanswered points in the opening three minutes to cut AU's lead to just 39-38. Davis and Howard responded with back-to-back scores to stall the Tusculum comeback and the Trojans slowly pushed out to a 58-49 cushion with 7:38 left in the contest. Greisen and Marquez Fisher posted three points apiece as the Trojans grabbed the nine-point lead.
But the Pioneers chipped away and knotted the score at 60-60 on a on a steal and layup by Kendall Patterson with 4:19 to play. Fields countered with a 3-pointer for the Trojans, with Darius Carter and Patterson combining for five straight points for TC to give the visitors a 65-63 advantage with 95 seconds left. Fields answered with his sixth 3-pointer of the contest from the left wing to regain a brief one-point for the Trojans, but Patterson countered with his trey from the left wing, giving the Pioneers a 68-66 lead. Carter and Cory Fagan added free throws inside the final 14.1 seconds to seal the win.
The Trojans begin a two-game road swing at Coker on Saturday,
with tip-off Hartsville, S.C. slated for 4 p.m.
