Wednesday, January 17, 2007

MINNEFEE HAS CAREER NIGHT IN 81-73 TUSCULUM WIN OVER EAGLES

Larry Minnefee scored a career-high 27 points in Wednesday's road win at Carson-Newman

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. --- Senior Larry Minnefee poured in a career-high 27 points to lead the Tusculum College men’s basketball team to an 81-73 South Atlantic Conference win at Carson-Newman College, Wednesday night at Holt Fieldhouse.

The Pioneers (8-8, 1-4 SAC) recorded a dozen three-pointers on the evening, including Minneffee’s 7-for-8 performance from beyond the arc. Tusculum has found the Holt Fieldhouse hardwood to its liking, winning in its last five visits to Jefferson City.

Minneffee shot 10-for-15 from the floor, while senior teammate Chris Poore accounted for a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds.

Carson-Newman (7-9, 0-5 SAC) placed five players in double figures, including 14 points each by Scott Williams and Andy Tipton.

The Pioneers jumped out of the gate and shot a sizzling 18-for-26 (69.2%) from the floor, including 8-of-10 from three-point land (80%). TC never trailed in the contest, scoring the first four points of the game and led by as many as a dozen on several occasions in the opening 20 minutes, including 41-29 at the 3:24 mark following back-to-back treys by Minnefee and freshman Corey Poindexter. Poindexter finished with 10 points, including three 3-pointers.

C-N trimmed the deficit to seven points (43-36) after Kente Hart jumper. TC senior Gabe Story added a canned a floating jumper as time expired as the Pioneers led 45-36 at intermission.

Tusculum built its advantage back to double digits and held off the Eagles on several occasions. The Pioneers went on an 8-2 run with 6:17 left in the game as Minnefee gave Tusculum its biggest lead at 70-55 with his seven 3-pointer of the night.

Carson-Newman went on a 7-0 spurt late in the game to cut the TC lead to 78-71 with 1:08 remaining after a Darren Williams’ trey, but that’s as close as the Eagles would get.

Tusculum shot 49.1 percent form the game, including 60 percent from long range (12-20). The Pioneers also won the battle of the boards by a 40-37 margin. Poore led TC’s rebounding efforts, while C-N’s Deonte Williams accounted for 10 boards in the loss.

Tusculum returns home Saturday to host Newberry College for a 4 p.m. SAC contest at Pioneer Arena.

- TC -