Men's Basketball Knocks Off Tusculum to Move Into SAC Tourney Final

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Javeon Jones scored 22 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out four assists to help lead Catawba into the championship game of the South Atlantic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament with an 84-73 win over Tusculum on Saturday night at Furman's Timmons Arena. The Piedmont Division Champion Catawba Indians improve to 22-7 and will face UVA Wise, the third seed from the Mountain Division, in Sunday's final. The Pioneers end their season at 15-11.

Catawba held a 33-31 edge at the break and never gave the lead back to the Pioneers. The Indians used a 7-0 spurt to take a 48-38 lead with 15:46 remaining, a run that was capped by a three-pointer from Jones. The junior scored 16 of his 22 points in the final half.

Tusculum trailed 60-56 with under eight minutes left when Catawba again went on a 7-0 run to regain a double-digit margin with 6:11 left. Catawba's defense stiffened in the final minutes, allowing Tusculum just two field goals over the final four minutes. Catawba put the game away at the line, making 7-of-10 in the final two minutes.

Jones was one of four Indian starters to reach double figures. Adrian Scarborough, DeAngelo Epps and Peyton Gerald all scored 13 points. Justin Mitchell led Tusculum with 20 points. Connor Jordan had 18 points, nine rebound and four assists.

Catawba picked up its shooting touch in the second half, canning 47% after hitting just 33% in the opening half. The Indians went 26-of-35 at the line. Catawba used a big edge in turnovers, committing just six and scoring 16 points off 15 Pioneer miscues.

The SAC Tournament final will be played on Sunday at Furman's Timmons Arena at 4 p.m. Catawba is 8-2 in 10 previous tournament championship games and last won the title in 2019.