HICKORY, N.C. — Hantz Louis-Jeune scored 19 points to lead five players in double figures as Lenoir-Rhyne defeated visiting Tusculum 95-75 Saturday afternoon in a South Atlantic Conference men’s basketball game at Shuford Arena.
The Bears (8-2, 6-1 SAC) record its sixth consecutive victory while halting the Pioneers’ (3-6, 3-2 SAC) three-game winning streak.
Junior Hodnett tallied 17 points, while the LR duo of Shem Sawy and Zaire Wells scored a dozen markers each. Sam Martin added 10 points, while Julian Dozier and Tay Smith finished with eight points apiece.
TU’s Bryce Jackson contributed 21 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals, while Malachi Hale recorded his first career double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Greeneville freshman Jason Britton posted a season-high 17 points to round out the TU scoring.
LR jumped out to an early 6-0 lead and later pushed out its advantage to 14-5 following a Smith layup at the 15:24 mark. With the Bears up 20-13, Tusculum went on a 9-1 spurt to take its first lead of the game at 22-21 thanks to a Ryan Neal jumper with 10:32 left in the half.
With Tusculum leading 29-28, the Bears went on a 13-3 spurt to take a 41-31 lead. Lenoir-Rhyne swelled its advantage out to 54-38 heading into the locker room at halftime.
The Bears maintained its double-digit lead throughout the rest of the game and used a 14-5 run which was capped off by a Wells slam dunk to go up 70-48 with 13:23 left in the contest to put the game out of reach.
The Bears finished the game shooting 51.4 percent from the floor while recording 28 assists on its 38 made field goals. LR also dominated the glass, out-rebounding Tusculum by a 51-30 margin including 21-7 on the offensive boards resulting in 23 second-chance points for the Bears.
Tusculum returns to action on Wednesday when the Black & Orange hosts Catawba for a 7:30 p.m. game at Pioneer Arena.
