Saturday, January 5, 2002
HAWK, SHEPHERD LEAD PIONEERS TO 55-50 WIN OVER PRESBYTERIAN
GREENEVILLE, TN --- Senior Benji Hawk (Greeneville, Tenn.) scored a game-high 15 points off the bench to lead Tusculum College to a 55-50 victory over Presbyterian College in South Atlantic Conference men’s basketball action at Alpine Arena Saturday afternoon. The Pioneers (6-6, 1-0 SAC) post their first ever win over the Blue Hose(7-6, 0-1 SAC) in seven tries in the league opener for both teams.
Rookie Jonathon Shepherd (Casino, Australia) added 11 second half points, including 8-for-8 at the free throw line, all coming in the final minute. They were the Aussie’s first free throw attempts of his young two-game collegiate career since joining the team in December.
Earmarked to be a defensive battle, today’s contest lived up to the billing as both teams shot a combined 2-for-22 after the opening 10 minutes. PC’s Rod Isom (Anderson, S.C.) scored the first bucket of the game at the 17:12 mark of the first period. TC cut the deficit in half (2-1) with a Brad Hawks’ (Galax, Va.) free throw five minutes later. TC took their first lead of the game when Hawk drilled the first of four 3-pointers with 10:47 left before halftime. PC retook the advantage on Jeff Whittle’s (Strasburg, Va.) trey three minutes later. TC regained the lead for good on Britton Boedecker’s (Missoula, Mont.) layup at the 7:28 mark of the half and would later take a 22-17 lead into the locker room. TC shot 32 percent from the floor, while the Blue Hose were limited to 26 percent shooting.
Both squads shot well in the final period, but TC held the upper hand early moving out to a 33-24 lead with 14:14 left. But 50 seconds later, PC’s Ben Touchberry (Blacksburg, S.C.) drilled back-to-back three-pointers to cut the deficit to 33-30. Tusculum never surrendered the lead and took their biggest advantage following the Shepherd’s first two free throws with 1:10 remaining.
But the Blue Hose wouldn’t go away as Chuck Rayford (Greenville, S.C.) scored seven of his 14 points heading down the stretch including a lay-up with 28 seconds remaining to trail 51-49. Shepherd iced the game scoring TC’s final four points at the stripe, to post their first SAC opening win in school history.
Sophomore Kiroh
Peterkin (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) recorded a
double-double with 10 points and a game-best 12 rebounds.
Boedecker finished with eight points, three assists and
blocked three shots for the Pioneers.
Whittle posted 10 points and six rebounds for PC, while
Rayford dished out a game-high five assists on the day.
Tusculum, who continues lead the nation in scoring defense (53.6 ppg), held the opposition to 50 or fewer points for the eighth time this season.
The
Pioneers will host Catawba College Wednesday night for a SAC
clash, beginning at 8:00 p.m. at Alpine Arena.
Presbyterian will look to end a four-game losing streak
as they travel to Cuddy Arena to face Wingate University
Wednesday.