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Saturday,
January 11, 2003 PC MEN’S BASKETBALL WINS DEFENSIVE STRUGGLE 54-49 OVER PIONEERS
The game pitted two of the
top scoring defensive teams in NCAA Division II as the
Blue Hose entered the game allowing only 56.4 points,
good for fourth in the nation. Tusculum was limiting
opponents to only 57.2 points per game, good for fifth
place. The first half saw the Blue
Hose hold a 28-21 lead entering intermission after
holding a 20-14 advantage on the boards including nine
offensive rebounds. Neither team shot well in the first
half as Tusculum hit eight-of-20 from the field (40.0%)
while PC struggled to shoot eight-of-26 from the field
for 30.8%. In the second half, the
Blue Hose pushed the lead to as many as 10 points at
39-29 with 11:04 remaining. The Pioneers fought back at
that point using a 16-4 run in the next eight minutes to
take retake the lead for the first time since early
first half at 45-43 with 3:51 remaining on a
three-pointer by junior forward Brandon Jones (Loveland, Colo.). After both teams traded
baskets and a pair of ties, the Blue Hose retook the
lead for good at 51-49 on a pair of free throws by
senior center Rod Isom
(Anderson, S.C.) with :39 seconds remaining. Rayford
hit three-of-four shots from the charity stripe down the
stretch to seal the win. Rayford led the Blue Hose
with 17 points on seven-of-10 shooting from the free
throw line as he moved into sole possession of fourth
place in South Atlantic Conference history in career
scoring with 1,600 points. Joining Rayford for PC in
scoring was freshman forward Michael
Drum (Rural Hall, N.C.) who added nine
points and eight rebounds. Tusculum was led by Jones
who tied Rayford for game scoring honors with 17 points
to go along with eight boards. Sophomore forward Andrew
Harmon (Germantown, Wis.) added 13 points in the
loss. PC improves to 13-2 overall, 1-0 in the SAC while Tusculum falls to 8-5 overall, 0-1 in the SAC. |
