Wednesday, January 3, 2007

 Presbyterian Picks Up First SAC Victory Of Season

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – Three Blue Hose finished in double figures and Presbyterian defeated Tusculum 61-59 at Pioneer Arena on the opening night of the South Atlantic Conference season.

Bryan Bostic (Norcross, Ga.) ended the game a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc en route to 14 points. The 14 points tied him with teammate Grant Herren (Oviedo, Fla.) for the game high.

Herren was also perfect in a category, concluding his efforts an unscathed 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

Sean Dixon (Marietta, Ga.) finished the game with 13 points and five assists.

Presbyterian took the lead once again at 54-51 with just under five minutes to go when Bostic acquired his fourth three-pointer of the game.

Tusculum went back on top 55-54 on two Chris Poore (Greenville, Tenn.) free throws shortly thereafter, but Grant Herren returned the favor 30 seconds later when he hit two from the free throw line to put PC back ahead for good at 56-55. Dixon hit one of two free throws on PC’s next possession to garner the Blue Hose a 57-55 lead.

The Blue Hose would score the rest of their points from the foul line.

The game tied 39-39, Tusculum took their first lead of the contest at 42-39 on a three-pointer by Eric Williams.

The Pioneers would go up by five on a lay-up by Poore, but Bostic nailed his third three-pointer of the game and then Herren hit a jumper from the top of the key to tie the game at 44-44.

Tusculum would go up by as much as four over the next few minutes, but the Blue Hose would pull it even for the seventh time in the game up to that juncture at 51-51 with just under six minutes to go in the tightly contested game.

The contest was marred by fouls early, with the two teams committing a combined 16 fouls by the time the first media timeout of the night was taken at the 9:28 mark of the first half. Taking advantage of the situation, Presbyterian held an early 13-6 advantage.

The Pioneers were the primary source of the referees whistle for the inaugural minutes of the game, fouling PC 10 times in the first 10:32 of the game.

The two teams would continue to battle in the defensive struggle, but Tusculum tied the game with just over two minutes left to go in the first half at 22-22 on a layup by Lavanti Jeter (Alexandria, Va.).

Dixon placed the Blue Hose back on top at 24-22 one minute later when he scored his first basket of the contest. Tusculum tied the contest shortly thereafter, but Dixon slashed through for a layup to put the Blue Hose back up 26-24 when the first half came to a close.

Still, the first half could only be summarized as a foul bonanza as the two teams went into the locker room having combined for a plethora of fouls (23). The Pioneers finished the first half with five players with more than one foul and with two players having earned three each.

The Blue Hose concluded the first half with 11 total fouls, but only three PC players had more than one; albeit none had more than two.

The Tusculum Pioneers tied the game on the first play of the second half when Gabe Story stole the basketball from PC and laid the ball in off the backboard to square the game at 26-26.

The Blue Hose over the next two-plus minutes with help by three-pointers by Bostic and Dixon would then rattle off an 8-2 run to go on top 34-28.

The real story though continued to remain the foul situation. By the time the Pioneers called their first timeout of the second half at the 13:04 mark the Blue Hose and Pioneers had combined for 34 total fouls, including 11 in the first 6:56 of the second half.

After the final whistle was blown on Wednesday evening in a game that saw nine ties and five lead changes 49 total fouls (26 TC, 23 PC) had been committed.

Presbyterian wins its second consecutive game to improve to 8-4 overall and 1-0 in conference play, while Tusculum falls to 7-4 and 0-1 in SAC action.

Presbyterian will face off against Mars Hill at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 6 in its first home league contest of the season. The Blue Hose will take one day off and then travel to Lenoir-Rhyne on Monday, Jan. 8.

Tip-off between the Bears and the Blue Hose is scheduled for 8 p.m.

Box Score

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