Tusculum Men Reach Tournament Championship With 79-61 Win Over Newberry

HICKORY, N.C. --- Kyle Moore poured in 26 points and established a pair of league single-season records in the process to lead the third-seeded Tusculum College men's basketball team to a 79-61 win over No. 2 Newberry College in the semifinal round of the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament Saturday night. The event is being held at the Catawba Valley Community College Arena.

With the victory, the Pioneers (20-9) advance to the Sunday's championship game as they will face No. 4 seed Catawba College at 4 p.m. with the winner earning the league's automatic berth to next week's NCAA Division II Tournament. For Tusculum, it will be its first trip to the title game since 2005, resulting in a Pioneer win and the program's first trip to the NCAA postseason.

Moore, the SAC Player of the Year, went 6-for-8 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from three-point territory. He has tallied 91 three-point field goals this season, which are a new league best, surpassing the previous record held by former Tusculum standout Bobby Ewing (89 in 2004-05). Moore also went 8-for-8 from the charity stripe, giving him 198 made free throws this season, which is also a new SAC season mark (Daniel Willis - 195 in 2000-01).

Tusculum's Josh Bennett drives for a shot against Newberry during Saturday's semifinal game of the 2009 Food Lion SAC Men's Basketball Tournament. Photo by Mike Slade.

Rob Troutman and Ryan Troutman accounted for 13 and 11 points, respectively, while Josh Bennett added 10 points and six rebounds off the bench. Ryan Troutman also hauled in six rebounds and dished out a game-high eight assists on the evening.

All-SAC standout Clemente Martin led Newberry with his game-high 26 points as he shot 8-for-15 from the floor, 3-of-5 from beyond the arc and 7-of-9 from the foul line. Brett Goodwell finished with 14 points, while Grand Domsic added six markers in the loss.

Tusculum went on a 16-3 run in the first half, capped off by a three-pointer by Jimmy Boone as the Pioneers led 31-15 with 4:26 remaining in the period. During that span, Newberry was held scoreless for over eight minutes as the Scarlett & Gray missed nine straight shots and a pair of free throws.

Tusculum would eventually take a 36-22 lead into the intermission as TC shot 14-for-23 in the opening 20 minutes, including 5-of-8 from the foul line. The Pioneers also out-rebounded Newberry by a 20-10 margin at the break, while limiting NC to 32 percent shooting in the period.

Newberry would come out in the second half with a 10-4 spurt to trim the deficit to single-digits at 40-32 following a basket by Matt Alexander with 15:26 left in the game.

Tusculum would answer with a 7-0 run, including a dunk by Bennett and a three-point by Rob Troutman as TC extended its advantage to 52-36 at the 11:36 mark. NC would trim the deficit to single digits again with a 10-2 run that included a Martin trey and a Vytautas Valiulis jumper with 7:33 remaining.

But the Pioneers would put the game away with a 16-5 spurt over the final five minutes to take their largest lead of the night at 79-56.

Tusculum finished the game shooting 56.8 percent, including 9-of-16 from three-point land (56.3 percent). TC also fired 80 percent from the foul line, including 17-of-18 in the second half (94.4 percent).

Quotes:

Tusculum head coach Jim Boone:
"Two major keys for tonight's game. First… we had to do a great job defensively… they are very athletic and very explosive. Second…we had to control the pace of the game and not let it become a track meet."

"We can't celebrate this win. We have to get ready for Catawba. I think they are playing the best basketball in the league right now. They are another team that likes to get up and down the court. If we can slow it down and keep it in the 30's, that's what we would like to do."

"Our guys did a great job recognizing their defense. Our guys did a great job in getting lay-ups and good looks."

Newberry head coach Jeremy Luther:
"Tusculum is very physical and I told our kids to be ready for that. We challenged them at the half to be more aggressive. They took us out of our game in the first half. We got in the habit of one pass and shoot.

"At Tusculum they controlled the tempo. At our place we controlled it. In the first half, we didn't have one transition basket."

TUSCULUM 79, NEWBERRY 61
TUSCULUM
Moore, Kyle 6-8 8-8 23; Troutman, Rob 4-6 3-5 13; Troutman, Ryan 5-10 0-0 11; Bennett, Josh 4-7 2-3 10; Hobbs, Taylor 3-4 0-0 8; Taylor, Wes 1-2 5-6 7; Boone, Jimmy 2-7 2-2 7. Totals 25-44 20-26 79.
NEWBERRY
Martin,Clemente 8-15 7-9 26; Goodwell,Brett 4-7 6-8 14; Domsic,Grant 2-6 0-0 6; Wheeler,Jesse 2-6 0-0 5; Overmyer,Ty 1-1 0-0 2; Johnson,Kendrick 1-1 0-0 2; Valiulis,Vytautas 1-5 0-2 2; Alexander,Matt 1-4 0-2 2; Dawkins,Will 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 20-46 15-23 61.
Tusculum............ 36 43 - 79
Newberry............ 22 39 - 61
3-point goals-Tusculum 9-16 (Moore, Kyle 3-4; Hobbs, Taylor 2-3; Troutman, Rob 2-3; Boone, Jimmy 1-4; Troutman, Ryan 1-2), Newberry 6-18 (Martin,Clemente 3-5; Domsic,Grant 2-4; Wheeler,Jesse 1-2; Valiulis,Vytautas 0-4; Alexander,Matt 0-1; Dawkins,Will 0-1; Goodwell,Brett 0-1). Fouled out--Tusculum-None, Newberry-Wheeler,Jesse. Rebounds-Tusculum 32 (Taylor, Wes 7), Newberry 20 (Goodwell,Brett 5). Assists-Tusculum 19 (Troutman, Ryan 8), Newberry 13 (Valiulis,Vytautas 6). Total fouls-Tusculum 20, Newberry 20. A-314