The Tusculum victory was also the 399th career win for Pioneer head coach Jim Boone. The Pioneers (2-3) will be on the road for the first time this season on Tuesday as Tusculum travels to Banner Elk, N.C. to take on Lees-McRae for a 7 p.m. contest.
Troutman shot 15-of-17 from the charity stripe, including a pair of free throws with 35.8 seconds remaining to give the Pioneers the lead for good.
Tusculum shot 26-of-32 from free throw line on the night (81.3%), including 14-of-16 in the second half (87.5%). As hot as Tusculum was at the foul line, Georgia College (2-1) was not as the Bobcats went 14-of-25 (56%), while missing six of their final seven foul shots in the last 7:49 of the game.
TC junior guard Justin Steigerwald added 11 points and five assists, while redshirt freshman Ryan Slusher tallied nine markers, five rebounds and three assists, including a pair of treys down the stretch.
GC’s Jared Holmes accounted for 17 points and five rebounds, while Mike Augustine added 14 points and four rebounds off the bench.
With Georgia College leading 50-41 with seven minutes left in the game, the Pioneers went on a 13-3 run over the next 6:42 to take a one-point advantage (54-53) with 1:27 remaining following a pair of Troutman free throws. Troutman sparked the rally scoring eight of the 13 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Slusher also added trey, while sophomore forward JD Miller accounted for a lay-up.
The Bobcats tied the game at 54-54 with 1:09 left after Andre Mikell made one of two free throws. Troutman was fouled while shooting a three-pointer with the shot clock running down. He made two of his three attempts as the Pioneers led 56-54 with 35.8 seconds left on the clock.
GC’s game-tying shot with 19.9 seconds left was off target as Miller came down with the rebound and was fouled. He calmly made the two free throws to put the Pioneers up 58-54. But five seconds later, Josh Hurst buried a three-pointer from the right wing to bring the Bobcats within one at 58-57 with 14.8 seconds remaining.
Steigerwald was fouled with four seconds left as he made both free throws to put TC ahead again by three (60-57). The Bobcats long-range three-point attempt grazed off the side of the rim, preserving the Tusculum victory.
The Bobcats roared out of the gate, scoring the first 11 points of the game in the opening 4:41 of the contest. TC missed its first four shots and didn’t post a made field goal until Steigerwald converted a three-point play with 13:16 left in the half. But after trailing 11-0, Tusculum responded with a 15-4 spurt to tie the game at 15-15. The TC run included two treys by Troutman and a Steigerwald lay-up to knot the game at the 9:40 mark.
The lead would bounce back and forth four times before GC closed out the half with a 6-1 run to take a 30-25 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, Tusculum opened with an 8-2 run as the Pioneers led 33-32 with 16:13 left following a pair of free throws from Troutman, following a GC technical foul.
With the Tusculum leading 39-38 with 11:24 remaining, the Bobcats went on a 12-2 run over the next 4:15 capped off by a Mike Augustine bucket with 7:09 left to give Georgia College a 50-41 lead, setting the stage for the Tusculum rally.
Troutman finished the day with four 3-pointers and five rebounds in his 40 minutes of play.
Tusculum shot 53.8 percent form the floor on the day, including a sizzling 9-of-13 in the second half (69.2%). TC also shot 50 percent from three-point land (6-of-12), including 3-of-4 in the final half. The Bobcats shot 44.2 percent for the game, including 8-of-21 in the second half, while also missing their first six field goal attempts of the second half.
GC out-rebounded the Pioneers by a 24-19 margin, including 11-1 on the offensive glass. The Bobcats converted those into a dozen second-chance points. GC was also in command with points in the paint (22-14) and points off turnovers (20-14).
No comments:
Post a Comment