GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Bryce Jackson scored 26 points to lead Tusculum to an 89-73 South Atlantic Conference win over Newberry Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Arena.
With the victory, Tusculum (10-14, 6-12 SAC) moves into a three-way tie for eighth place in the league standings with Newberry (10-14, 6-12 SAC) and Wingate (11-13, 6-12 SAC). TU avenges its 32-point loss to the Wolves in November's SAC opener to earn a split in the season-series.
Newberry has lost five in a row and have dropped seven of its last nine contests.
Jackson, who posted 29 markers in Wednesday's home win over Mars Hill, followed with his sixth 20-plus point performance of the season and 20th of his Tusculum career. After going 10-of-10 at the free throw line three days ago, he followed by making 10 of his 11 shots at the charity stripe. Jackson also grabbed eight rebounds, dished out five assists and made three steals.
Tusculum junior TJ Printup shots 6-of-8 from the floor with a pair of three-pointers as he finished with 16 points. He also hauled in eight rebounds and posted a game-high four steals. Freshman Jordan Attia tallied 14 points and five assists with zero turnovers in his 32 minutes of action, while Damjan Vukcevic and Malachi Hale contributed nine points apiece.
Newberry's Makhi Rivers led the visitors with 23 points and six rebounds, while Drake Downs tallied 19 points off the bench. Houston Jones added 10 points, while Malakhi Stremlow was held to seven points and five rebounds.
Tusculum went 31-of-54 from the field for 57.4 percent for its third-best shooting performance of the season. Newberry finished the game shoot 40.3 percent and edged TU on the boards by a 33-32 margin including 14-6 on the offensive glass. TU forced 19 turnovers resulting in 20 points thanks to a season-best 14 steals.
Neither team scored in the first two-and-half minutes of the game before Printup broke the scoring drought with a driving layup. The game stayed close throughout most of the first half with neither team leading by more three points for the first 14:30 of the game.
AJ Murphy buried a three-pointer at the 5:27 mark of the half as Tusculum led 24-20. TU has a 26-22 advantage after an Attia jumper with 5:05 on the clock.
Rivers drilled a triple to make it a one-point game at 26-25, but Printup followed with a pull-up jumper as Tusculum led 28-25. Rivers canned another three-pointer to even the score at 28-28 with 4:11 remaining.
TU would close out the half with a 9-2 run as the Pioneers took a 37-30 lead into the locker room.
The Wolves dented the scoreboard first with a fast break layup from Rivers as Newberry trailed 37-32. But Tusculum go on an 11-2 spurt which was capped off by a three-point play from Wesley Johnson as TU took a 48-34 lead with 16:43 left in the contest.
The Wolves cut the deficit to single digits at 52-43 following a Downs' three-pointer with 13:40 to go.
Tusculum stretched its advantage to 15 (60-45) following an 8-2 spurt thanks to triples from Printup and Hale.
Newberry would get as close as 63-52 as Downs converted a three-point play with 8:42 remaining. But the Pioneers extended the lead to 16 (70-54) and later took its largest lead of the game at 78-57 following a Johnson layup with four minutes to go to put the game out of reach.
Jackson has scored 1,189 career points at Tusculum, moving him into 22nd place on the program's all-time scoring list. With his three steals, he also moves into ninth place in the TU scoring book with his 115 career steals.
Printup achieved a personal milestone as he recorded his 100th career steal. He is listed amongst the SAC leaders this season with his 59 thefts, which are third in the conference and are the seventh-most by a Pioneer in school history. One more steal will put Printup in rarified air and become the first player with 60 steals since James Boshears during the 1994-95 season.
Tusculum will conclude its three-game home-stand on Wednesday with a 7:30 p.m. contest with UVA Wise. The Pioneers will be looking to avenge last month's 79-66 loss to the Highland Cavaliers.
TU's last four games on its regular-season slate including three teams who are listed in the top-four in the SAC standings.
