LRU men in fifth place, play at home Wednesday night against Coker
HobbsDailyReport.com
GREENVILLE, Tenn. – The close ones keep getting away from the Lenoir-Rhyne University men.
For the third time in four games and fourth time this season, the Bears’ game was close but host Tusculum dropped LRU 56-54 on Saturday in a South Atlantic Conference (SAC) basketball game.
SAC STANDINGS: https://www.thesac.com/sports/mbkb/2018-19/standings
Tusculum improved to 12-12 overall and 8-8 in the SAC by winning and left the Bears at 16-8, 9-7.
LRU is in fifth place in the conference, 1 ½ games back of fourth-place Wingate and a game ahead of Tusculum. Queens (15-1) has a three-game lead over Catawba and Lincoln Memorial, who share second place.
Coker visits LRU on Wednesday at 8 p.m. for a conference game.
Tusculum held the Bears to a season-low 54 points, limiting them to 39.2 percent shooting and to only seven free-throw attempts.
Darius Simmons led LRU with 12 points in a reserve role and hit all four of his 3-pointers. Jon Jean and Bertrand Awana, also coming off the bench, scored 10 points each. Awana added 10 rebounds.
Caleb Hodnett sparked the Pioneers with 20 points and 12 rebounds. They shot 42.9 percent and went 4-for-19 from 3-point range.
LRU had the ball, down by one point, with a bit more than three seconds to play but Tusculum made a steal to seal the victory.
The Bears beat Tusculum 77-74 on Jan. 5 in Hickory.
- Reported by LRU Sports Information
BOXSCORE: http://www.tusculumpioneers.com/sports/mbkb/2018-19/boxscores/20190216_fsiq.xml?view=boxscore