ANDERSON, S.C. – Outscoring the Pioneers of Tusculum University (14-12, 12-8 SAC) by a nine-point margin in the second half of the contest, the Anderson University (15-12, 10-10 SAC) was unable to overcome their 14-point deficit at halftime as they dropped their final home contest of the season 88-83 on Saturday, March 2.

Sophomore Cole Middleton (Atlanta, Ga.) led the squad with 14 points on the night and tied for the team-high with six boards with senior Mack Burgett (Richmond, Va.) to go with his 12 points in the game. Sophomore Luke Denbow (Ashland, Ohio) tallied 13 points in the game while freshman Dallas Jones (Gainesville, Fla.) wrapped up the contest with 11. Freshman AJ Wright Jr. (Tampa, Fla.) chipped in with six assists on the night.

Anderson controlled the pace of the contest in the early goings as they were able to hold the three-point advantage at the first media stoppage of the contest at 11-8. The Pioneers were able to outscore the Trojans by a 5-2 margin over the next four minutes of action to tie up the contest at 13 with just under 12 minutes to play in the first half. The next stretch was all Tusculum as they opened a six-point lead by the next stoppage and continued to open it to double-digits before the Trojans were able to get the lead back to single digits at the final media timeout of the first half at 34-25. The margin grew to 14 points before the half ended as the Pioneers took the 46-32 lead into the break.

By the first media-timeout of the second half the Trojans were able to close the gap by three points, bringing the Pioneers advantage to just 11 as they started to chip into the lead. The Trojans continued to chip into that margin and bring it down to just seven and kept that margin intact at the under-8 media timeout at 68-61. Continuing to work into the lead, the Trojans brought it down to five before the final media and then down to four heading down the final stretch. Unfortunately, the Trojans couldn't trade free throws for three-pointers down the stretch as Tusculum was able to secure the game 88-83.

The Trojans now turn their attention to the South Atlantic Conference Tournament, where they are slated as the No. 7 seed and will face off against Wingate in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m. in Rock Hill, S.C.