EMORY, Va. — Omari Curley hit the game-winning jumper with 0.7 seconds remaining to lead Emory & Henry to a 65-63 South Atlantic Conference win over the Tusculum men’s basketball team on a snowy Wednesday night at the King Center.
With 2.7 seconds left, with the score tied at 63-63, E&H’s Jackson Crawford found Curley in the left corner on an in-bound pass and drained a contested 16-foot jumper with under a second remaining. TU was unable to get off a desperation shot before the buzzer as the Pioneers (3-11, 3-7 SAC) suffered its sixth consecutive loss.
Tusculum, who trailed by as many as 11 in the second period, went on a 9-0 spurt in the final three minutes as freshman Taj Kimber poured in eight of his game-high 25 points during the TU run. Kimber’s floating jumper following an Emory & Henry turnover trimmed the deficit to 63-61 with 1:16 on the clock.
After a timeout, the Wasps missed a three-pointer and TU’s Bryce Jackson came down with the rebound. He would be fouled with 27.6 seconds sending him to the line for two free throws. He would make the first to tie the game at 63-63, but his second try hit the back of the rim as the Wasps (4-10, 2-8 SAC) came down with the rebound.
TU, who had a foul to give, stopped the clock with a foul with 2.7 seconds remaining, setting the table for Curley’s late-game heroics.
The Wasps erased a 39-32 halftime deficit and used a key 10-0 run in the second period to race out to a 60-49 lead with 7:14 on the scoreboard.
Kimber finished the game shooting 10-of-15 from the field including 5-of-8 from three-pointer territory. Jackson had 12 points, while Malachi Hale tallied 10 markers in the loss. Senior center Akeem Odusipe grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds to go along with four points, four assists and two blocked shots.
Draven Pilson led E&H with 18 points, Gabe Brown added 12 and Curley recorded 10 points.
Tusculum jumped out to a pair of 11-point leads in the first half including 19-8 after a Jackson bucket at the 9:21 mark of the period.
The Wasps would cut into the Tusculum lead and whittled the deficit down to 28-26 following a Sam Ritchie triple with 3:19 left before halftime.
With Pioneers up 35-32, Tusculum score the final four points of the period thanks to a driving layup from Jackson and Hale scored a tip-in just before the horn as TU led 39-32.
Tusculum maintained its lead for the first 4:11 before Pilson made three straight free throws and Brown’s dunk gave the Wasps a 42-41 lead. It would spark a 15-3 run for Emory & Henry as the hosts led 52-44 on Pilson’s three-pointer with 11:51 remaining and forcing a Tusculum timeout.
Kimber responded with a three-pointer of his own and Hale followed with a layup as Tusculum trailed 52-49 with 9:19 left. But the Wasps answered with eight straight including three-point plays from Brown and Crawford and Pilson’s jumper gave Emory & Henry its largest lead of the night at 60-49.
Tusculum went on a 6-1 run including two free throws by Denaj Kimber and a three-pointer by his brother Taj as TU trailed 61-54 as the Pioneers called a timeout with five minutes to go.
Both teams would go scoreless for nearly two minutes before E&H’s Assad Madassalia broke the drought with his layup following a TU turnover with 3:01 left.
Tusculum mounted its comeback as the Pioneers missed its first two shots of their possession, but Taj Kimber would hit a triple from the right wing to make it a six-point game (63-57). After a missed show Taj Kimber made another triple to cut the score to 63-60 with 1:52 left.
Emory & Henry called a timeout with 1:40 to set up a play. But the Tusculum defense forced another turnover as Odusipe came up with a steal and Taj Kimber made it eight straight with his jumper as TU trailed 63-62 with 76 second left to set up the late-game drama.
E&H finished the game shooting 44.1 percent including 12-of-24 in the second half. Tusculum was held to 28 percent shooting in the second half to finish the game at 36 percent. TU went 9-of-23 from three-point territory, while the Wasps went 5-of-23 from downtown. TU won the rebound battle by a 40-37 margin including 18-to-11 on the offensive glass. The Wasps went 8-of-9 at the free throw line, while Tusculum went 6-of-9 at the charity stripe. E&H was credited with eight blocked shots with five going to Madassalia.
The Pioneers will be on the road this Saturday for a 4 p.m. SAC contest at Anderson University.
