NEWBERRY -- Tusculum head coach Frankie DeBusk has guided the Pioneers to 70 victories since taking over the program a dozen years ago, but none are perhaps as sweet as Saturday night's win here over Newberry.

Coming off a conference championship campaign and a playoff run, the Pioneers had high hopes for the season. Things turned out just the opposite.

Heading into Tusculum's fifth South Atlantic Conference game of the year the Pioneers were still without a league victory, but a brilliant second half performance lifted them to a 34-31 come-from-behind win that sparked a huge celebration for the team.

"I want our players to get all the credit in the world," DeBusk said. "It's been a long year up to this point, and we played differently tonight. We fought. I told them coming over here that if we believed we could win, then we could win. That's what happened. Todd Knight, their head coach said 'You out coached us, you out played us. You deserve to win.' I agree. We just played at a different level tonight. I'm so proud of our football team."

Newberry (4-4, 2-3) pretty much had its way with Tusculum in the opening half. Quarterback Brandon Gantt led Newberry to 345 yards of offense in the first two quarters and a 28-14 halftime lead.

Gantt scored three opening half touchdowns of his own on runs of one, two and one yards and threw a 76-yard touchdown pass to Kelton Tindal.

The Pioneers (2-6, 1-4) weren't without big plays. Nate Binder took a Bo Cordell pass 32 yards to the end zone for the Pioneers' opening touchdown. John Gregory unleashed a 55-yard punt that Newberry fumbled into the end zone where Hunter Adams recovered it for a touchdown for Tusculum, and Gareth Rowlands hit a 49-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter to give the Pioneers room for hope.

The second half was completely different. Tusculum's defense, led by seven tackles each from Sam Broadwater and Jason Muehling, held Newberry to only 59 yards of total offense and a field goal.

Marcus Foster pulled the Pioneers close with a 39-yard touchdown catch from Cordell at the start of the third quarter, and then Tusculum's defense held Newberry out of the end zone to force a 28-yard field goal by Britt Blackmon to make it a 31-24 game heading into the fourth.

Binder got his second touchdown of the game on a five-yard catch from Cordell early in the fourth to tie it after the Pioneers converted a fourth down fake punt pass from Gregory to Rashaad Carter for 43 yards, and then Rowlands nailed a 44-yard field goal to put Tusculum in the lead for the first time with 7:19 to play.

Over the final seven minutes, Tusculum's defense completely shut down Newberry to win the game.

DeBusk said he really couldn't pick out a turning point.

"I don't know if I can remember much of the game right now, and I'm being sincere," he said. "I just remember that last five minutes were the longest of my life. The kids just played well. Offensively we struggled a little bit early, and then we started scoring points. Defensively, they didn't punt in the first half, then we came out in the second half and stopped them. We did a phenomenal job by all 11 players on the field at any given time."

The big key for the defense was three interceptions and a fumble recovery. All three interceptions -- by Javon Forsett, Miles Washington and Antonio Johnson -- came in the second half.

Washington's interception set up Rowlands' third quarter field goal. Johnson's killed a Newberry drive after the Pioneers had taken the lead, and Forsett's all but ended the game and allowed Tusculum to run out the clock.

Cornerback T.J. Jones, one of more than a dozen players for Tusculum from South Carolina, said getting the Pioneers' first conference win against Newberry was extra special because their roster is dominated by people he knows.

"It feels good. We needed a win," said Jones, who led Tusculum with two pass breakups. "We aren't going to the playoffs, and we haven't had the season we wanted. Our goal now is to start knocking other people out of the playoffs. Coming back home, I was playing against a lot of friends. This is a special win."

The same is true for Deonte Gist, another South Carolina native.

He said beating old friends and rivals is nice, but hopefully the win will lead to better things for the Pioneers, too.

"It always feels good to come home," he said. "We get to see some people from our high school teams. To play them is good. Hopefully this will give us some heart and something to look forward to next week. Hopefully this will help us finish the season off good."

DeBusk believes if the Pioneers play their final two games the way they played Newberry, good things are possible.

Cordell was 16-of-28 passing for 240 yards and three touchdowns and no interceptions.

Foster had a season best 73 yards on 14 carries. Binder had two touchdowns on four catches for 71 yards.

Rowlands hit a pair of field goals and was perfect on four extra points to become Tusculum's all-time kick scoring leader.

"I told the team when the season started we had a purpose to win a national title and a conference championship. That's out the window," DeBusk said. "When we started struggling, we started trying to do more than we should be doing. Now, we are all playing for the same reason. We are playing because we want to play. We are playing for fun and with a loosey-goosey mentality, and that's why we won the ball game."

The Pioneers host Mars Hill on Saturday in their home finale.