GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - The Lees-McRae College (0-9) men's basketball team fell to the Tusculum College Pioneers (6-2), 53-15, Wednesday night on a pair of free throws with 3.2 seconds on the clock at Pioneer Arena in a nonconference game.
Tusculum got a season-best 18 points from Jimmy Boone off the
bench, including 16 markers in the second half. Boone shot
7-for-12 from the field, including 3-of-5 from three-point
territory.
Lees-McRae's Nick DeSchepper (Fishers, Ind.) accounted for 17
points, including his clutch three-pointer with 36 seconds
remaining to tie the game at 51-51.
Tusculum's Kyle Moore missed a three-point shot with five seconds
left, but Bennett came up with the huge rebound, his sixth
offensive board of the night and 10th overall in the game. He made
both free throws, and following a LMC timeout, rookie Taylor Hobbs
intercepted the inbounds pass at midcourt to seal Tusculum's third
straight win.
It was a defensive stalemate in the first half as neither team shot
above 31 percent as the Bobcats (0-9) led 21-20 at the intermission
(LMC 31%, TC 26.9%).
In the second period, Lees-McRae came out on fire, going on a 12-0
run in the first 5:12 to take a 33-20 advantage. The Bobcats shot
5-for-7 during the run, capped off by a four-point play by
DeSchepper with 14:48 remaining in the contest. During the spurt,
TC missed its first four shots, while committing four
turnovers.
Boone stopped the bleeding for Tusculum with his three-point play
23 seconds later to bring Tusculum back within 10 (33-23), but
Jesse Hoots (Yadkinville, N.C.) answered with a three-pointer to
move the visitors back up by 13.
With Lees-McRae leading by 11 (40-29) with 8:41 left, Tusculum went
on a 15-4 run to tie the game at 44-44 on a Moore three-pointer
four minutes later. The Bobcats regained the lead with four
straight points coming on an Aaron Woodacre (Piney Flats, Tenn.)
jumper and a pair of free throws by Hoots to go up 48-44 with 3:41
left on the clock.
Tusculum scored seven straight points down the stretch, including a
bucket and trey by Boone and two free throws by Bennett as TC led
by 53-50 with under a minute to play.
After a Lees-McRae timeout, the play was set for DeSchepper as he
launched a 22-footer from the right wing under heavy pressure that
found the bottom of the net to knot the contest for the eighth time
to set up the late game heroics by Josh Bennett and the
Pioneers.
The Bobcats shot 41.2 percent in the game, including 12-for-22
(54.5%) in the second half. Tusculum was limited to 34 percent in
the game, but was sizzling at the free throw line going 13-for-15,
including six in a row down the critical stretch.
The Pioneers won the board battle by a 36-31 margin, including 13-9
on the offensive glass.
Moore had nine points and led the team with four assists in his 32
minutes of action. Ryan Troutman tallied 16 points, nine rebounds
and a pair of steals, while Bennett added six points to go along
with his game-high 10 boards.
Behind DeSchepper's 17 points, Lees-McRae got nine points by
Woodacre, while Kyle Boardman (Clemmons, N.C.) contributed eight
points and a team-best seven rebounds in the loss.
Lees-McRae will be at home on Saturday for a 4 p.m. contest with
Conference Carolinas foe Pfeiffer University.
Box score
2008 Season Stats
Pictured: Nick DeSchepper
