Greeneville, T.N. - It wasn't easy, but the the No. 18 Lenoir-Rhyne Men's Basketball team pulled out a 79-72 win over a young Tusculum squad on Saturday.
Hantz Louis-Jeune,
Sam Martin, and
Conrad Luczynski combined for 51 points on the night.
The Bears now have an impressive 8-2 road record on the season.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: #18 Lenoir-Rhyne 79, Tusculum 72
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne (16-3 13-2 SAC), Tusculum (4-15, 4-11 SAC)
Location: Greeneville, T.N. | Pioneer Arena
STORY OF THE GAME
- Lenoir-Rhyne jumped out to a quick 10-3 lead thanks to 5-5 shooting from the floor.
- Back-to-back buckets from Ziare Wells extended that lead to 20-8 midway through the half.
- Wells pushed the lead to 15 with a fast break dunk a few minutes later.
- The Pioneers cut the lead to five late in the half, but four late points by Julian Dozier put the Bears up 38-28 at the half.
- A quick dunk and layup from Sam Martin put the Bears up 14 less than a minute into the second half.
- Junior Hodnett hit a three to put the Bears up 60-44 with 11:51 left in the game.
- Tusculum made things interesting by cutting the Bears lead to three with less than a minute left in the game.
- Dozier and Wells each went 2-2 at the charity stripe in the final seconds to seal the win.
STATS OF THE MATCH:
- Hantz Louis-Jeune led the Bears with 18, his 15th time scoring in double-figures this season.
- Conrad Luczynski and Ziare Wells tied for the team lead with seven boards, while Julian Dozier led with seven assists.
- Lenoir-Rhyne dominated the paint, outscoring the Pioneers 50-26 in that category.
- The Bears shot an impressive 32-52 (60.4%) from the field and 3-7 (42.9%) from three.
- Tusculum was just 28-72 (38.9%) from the field and 8-35 (22.9%) from three.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:
- The Bears are now tied with LMU at the top of the SAC as the Railsplitters fell at Wingate today.
- LR has now won three straight against the Pioneers
- Louis-Jeune averaged 18.5 points in the two games this season vs. Tusculum
- Luczynski entered the game 5th in the SAC with 62.9 FG % and continued that trend, going 8-9 from the floor today. .
UP NEXT: Lenoir-Rhyne will head to Wingate on Wednesday night to take on a Bulldogs team that just notched a 77-72 upset victory over Lincoln Memorial. The Bears and Bulldogs met just before Thanksgiving, with the Bears winning 81-67 in Shuford. Tip-off is scheduled to fro 7:30 PM