HICKORY, N.C. — The Lenoir-Rhyne duo of Tyler Burraston and Conrad Luczynski scored 24 points apiece to lead the Bears to a 90-77 South Atlantic Conference win over Tusculum Saturday afternoon at Shuford Arena.
Lenoir-Rhyne (22-6, 16-4 SAC) completes the season-sweep over the Pioneers (10-16, 6-14 SAC) as the Bears shot 54 percent from the floor and recorded 24 assists on its 33 made field goals.
Luczynski went 12-of-14 from the floor and grabbed seven rebounds, while Burraston knocked down seven 3-pointers. Akili Evans nearly had a triple-double as he posted 11 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists before he was ejected from the game with 4:02 remaining after picking up his second technical foul on the afternoon.
Tusculum graduate student Bryce Jackson scored 20 points as he went 8-for-8 from the free throw line, while freshman Jordan Attia contributed 17 markers and five assists in the loss. Senior Malachi Hale finished with 13 points off the bench and junior Damjan Vukcevic accounted for eight points and four rebounds.
The contest was a back and forth affair for the entire first half and the opening five minutes of the second period. The lead exchanged hands on 24 occasions with eight ties.
With Lenoir-Rhyne leading 42-38 at the intermission and the Bears scoring the first bucket to open the half four six-point advantage, Tusculum went on an 8-0 run which included a pair of Jackson triples as TU led 46-44 with 17:39 remaining.
Tusculum later pushed the lead to 51-48 after a Jackson basket with 16:48 remaining.
The Bears went on a 15-0 run over a span of 4:16 to take a 63-51 lead with 12:11 to go. Tusculum cut the deficit to eight on two occasions including 67-59 with 10 minutes left.
LR went on a 9-0 spurt to take a 76-59 lead with 7:10 on the scoreboard, sparked by a pair of Burraston three-pointers. Tusculum had no answer down the stretch as a Burraston three-pointer with 2:42 to gave the Bears its largest lead of the day (88-70).
Lenoir-Rhyne out-rebounded Tusculum by a 40-26 margin including 12 offensive rebounds resulting in 20 second-chance points.
For Jackson, it was his third 20-plus point performance in the last four games and seventh of the season. It was also his 21st twenty-point game of his career. He has scored 1,226 points in his Tusculum career which are 21st in program history, moving past Pat Compton (1,218 pts – 1999-2003).
The Pioneers will play its final road game of the season on Wednesday when they travel to Emory & Henry for a 7:30 p.m. contest.
