Saturday, January 12, 2008

 

JORDAN LEAR HITS THREE WITH 1.3 SECONDS LEFT, PIONEERS RALLY TO BEAT CATAWBA

 

 Jordan Lear               GREENEVILLE, Tenn. ---- Jordan Lear made a 25-foot jumper with 1.3 seconds remaining as Tusculum College rallied to defeat visiting Catawba College 82-79 Saturday afternoon in South Atlantic Conference men’s basketball action.  Tusculum (8-7, 2-1 SAC) wins its third straight game and post its seventh victory in the last 10 outings.

 

                Lear finished with 21 points, including 17 in the second half shooting 6-for-8 from the floor.  Kyle Moore led all scorers with 23 points, including seven 3-pointers, six rebounds and five assists.  Lavonti Jeter added 18 markers and a game-best nine rebounds, while Ryan Troutman accounted for 14 points and seven assists.

 

                Catawba’s Antonio Houston and Dominick Reid contributed 20 points each, while Rob Fields added eight points and three assists in the loss.

 

                The Pioneers trailed by seven points (69-62) with 7:33 remaining in the game and six with 4:23 left (75-69).  Moore drilled his seventh trey of the day with four minutes on the clock, but Houston connected on a baseline jumper at the 3:39 mark to move Catawba back to a five-point edge (77-72).

 

                Jeter connected on a lay-up 30 seconds later to bring TC to within three at 77-74.  Both teams exchanged a missed shot and a turnover before Troutman tied the game at 77-77 with his trey from the top of the key with 1:32 left.

 

                Catawba (8-6, 1-2 SAC) regained the advantage when Reid was fouled and made two free throws to put the visitors out in front again at 79-77 with 1:18 on the scoreboard.  TC took the inbounds pass and Moore found a breaking Jeter heading towards the basket, where he dunked the ball to tie the game for the eighth and final time with 1:02 left.

 

                After a Catawba timeout, Reid missed a go-ahead three-pointer which was pulled down by Moore with 37 ticks remaining on the clock.  With the shot clock running out, Lear put up a 25-foot trey from the right wing which found nothing but the bottom of the net.

 

                The Catawba Indians got one last chance as the ¾ court pass was caught by Finnur Magnusson at the top of the key, but his game-tying attempt hit off the front of the rim as TC held on for the victory.

 

                Tusculum shot 50 percent from the floor, including 15-for-33 from three-point land (45.5%), while Catawba fired 42.6 percent (26-61) and a sizzling 18-for-20 from the free throw line (90%).  The Catawba Indians also finished with nine 3-pointers, including four by Reid.

 

                Tusculum led through most of the first half and took its biggest lead of the day at 21-14 at the 11:07 mark of the period following a three-pointer by Darren Hobbs.  With TC leading 35-30 with five minutes left before halftime, Catawba scored seven straight points, including a three-pointer by Magnusson at the 3:33 mark to give the Catawba Indians their first lead of the afternoon (37-35).

 

                TC tied the game on a lay-up and got a Moore three-pointer with 2:48 left before the intermission.  Reid tied the game at 40-40 with his trey and Donald Rutherford following with his three-pointer to give Catawba 43-40 lead at the 1:54 mark.  Jimmy Boone tied the game for Tusculum with his three-pointer with 51 seconds left as the score was tied at halftime 43-43.

 

                Tusculum returns to action next Saturday when it hosts in-state rival Carson-Newman College for a 4 p.m. contest at Pioneer Arena.  Catawba is back at Goodman Gym Wednesday when it entertains Brevard College in a non-league tilt at 8 p.m.

 

- TC -