Saturday, January 20, 2007

PIONEERS RALLY TO 76-64 WIN OVER NEWBERRY

Chris Poore	Larry Minnefee

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum College men's basketball team rallied from a 13-point second half deficit as the Pioneers defeated Newberry College 76-64 Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Arena in men's basketball action.

Tusculum senior Larry Minnefee led the charge as he poured in 20 points, including 18 in the second half. Senior Chris Poore posted a double-double with 22 points and a career-high 15 rebounds as Pioneers (9-8, 2-4 SAC) post its second straight league win.

Newberry's Alonzo Hinds accounted for a season-high 22 markers as he shot 8-for-12 from the floor, including 5-of-7 from three-point territory.

Tusculum shot a sizzling 15-of-23 from the floor in the final 20 minutes (65.2%) while limiting the Indians (7-8, 2-4 SAC) to 37.5 percent shooting, including 32.4 percent in the second half.

Newberry opened the game scoring the first seven points of the game and took a 35-24 advantage into the locker room. Hinds paced the Indians' attack with 14 of his 22 points in the first period as he went 5-for-6 from the field, while making all three of his 3-point attempts.

Newberry moved out to a pair of 13-point leads in the second half, including 39-26 at the 18:32 mark following Kendrick Johnson's jumper.

Trailing 45-34 with 14:26 left in the game, Tusculum went on a 9-0 run to trim the Newberry lead to 45-43 after a jumper by Poore with under 10 minutes remaining. Clemente Martin scored six of the next eight points for the Tribe, including a dunk as Newberry led 51-46 with 8:14 left.

Over the next six minutes, Tusculum went on a 27-7 run. During the rally, Tusculum tied the game at 55-55 following a pair of free throws by Larry Minnefee at the 4:43 mark. Poore gave Tusculum its first lead of the game with 4:06 remaining with his driving lay-up as the Pioneers moved ahead 57-55. During the run, Tusculum made 14-of-16 free throws, including 11 in a row while Minnefee and Eric Williams canned three-pointers down the stretch.

Williams finished with 11 points, including 6-of-6 at the free throw line. Minnefee shot 7-for-12 from the floor, including a pair of three-pointers. Minnefee's posts his second straight 20-point effort as he logged a career-best 27 markers in Wednesday's win at Carson-Newman. Poore was 7-of-14 from the field and 8-of-9 at the free throw line.

Both teams are back at home on Wednesday. Tusculum will host Wingate University, while Newberry welcomes Catawba College.

- TC -