BY WAYNE PHILLIPS
SPORTS EDITOR
The month of February is going to be interesting in the South Atlantic Conference men's race, as four teams, including Tusculum's Pioneers, find themselves tied for the lead heading into the home stretch of the season.
Coach Jim Boone's Pioneers won their fourth straight league game, taking care of business against Lenoir-Rhyne 61-56 Monday night at Pioneer Arena.
The win moved the Pioneers to 6-3 in the league, 12-8 overall, and places them in a four-way tie for first with LMU, Brevard and Mars Hill. Catawba is a half-game back at 5-3. Tusculum plays at LMU Wednesday night in another key game.
Lenoir-Rhyne, last year's regular season champion, continues to find things tough this year as close losses have been the order of the day. They dropped to 1-8 in the SAC and 3-16 overall.
Senior guard Kyle Moore was key for Tusculum, as he hit nine 3-pointers for the second time this year and finished with 31 points for the second straight game. He accounted for just about all the TC offense in the first half as the Pioneers found themselves on the short end of a 28-25 score at intermission.
The Pioneers were down by as many as 12 points in the first half (28-16), but Moore finished off the half with three 3-pointers to close the gap.
"Give Lenoir-Rhyne credit," Boone said after the game. "They did a good job with their zone defense and we didn't attack. We went to the foul line zero times in the first half."
But the Pioneers did a better job in the second half, going to the foul line 13 times and making all of them. Josh Bennett finished the game with a double-double, 11 points and 10 rebounds, and was the only other TC player in double-digit scoring. Jimmy Boone hit for nine points.
Point guard Justin Steigerwald had eight assists as the Pioneers had 18 field goals in the game with 16 assists while making only eight turnovers. Steigerwald leads the SAC in assists.
The lead see-sawed early in the second half. The Bears were up 41-36 halfway through the period before the Pioneers got the lead for keeps at 45-44 with 6:20 left on two free throws by Bennett.
D.J. Blackmon, who led L-R with 16 points, bucketed a 3-pointer with 1:42 left that cut the margin to 53-52, but solid free throw shooting in the final minute kept the Pioneers in front. Moore hit four, Steigerwald two and Bennett two more as they were 8-of-8.
It was Tusculum's first-ever season sweep of the Bears.
LENOIR-RHYNE (3-16, 1-8 SAC): Blackmon 5-11 4-5 16; Hathcock 4-8 1-2 11; Thomas 3-8 4-4 10; Sydney 3-9 2-3 8; Walls 2-5 0-0 5; Kunz 2-2 0-0 4; Shaw 1-1 0-2 2; Carpenter 0-1 0-0 0; Crawford 0-0 0-0 0; Watkins 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-45 11-16 56.
TUSCULUM (12-8, 6-3 SAC): Moore 9-20 4-4 31; Bennett 3-4 5-5 11; Boone 3-12 0-0 9; Troutman 2-5 2-2 6; Taylor 1-3 0-0 2; Steigerwald 0-0 2-2 2; Klempin 0-1 0-0 0; Gagel 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-46 13-13 61.
Halftime: Lenoir-Rhyne 28, Tusculum 25
3-point goals--Lenoir-Rhyne 5-14 (Hathcock 2-4; Blackmon 2-4; Walls 1-2; Sydney 0-4), Tusculum 12-32 (Moore 9-20; Boone 3-9; Troutman 0-2; Gagel 0-1). Rebounds--Lenoir-Rhyne 28 (Shaw 7), Tusculum 27 (Bennett 10). Assists--Lenoir-Rhyne 12 (Blackmon 5), Tusculum 16 (Steigerwald 8). Total fouls--Lenoir-Rhyne 18, Tusculum 18.
