CHARLOTTE, N.C. --- Queens University of Charlotte used a 19-2 run to open the second half as the 12th-ranked Royals defeated visiting Tusculum College 80-54 to claim a share of the 2017 South Atlantic Conference men's basketball title.
Queens (25-3, 19-3 SAC) wins its first SAC title while completing the season sweep over the Pioneers (12-16, 9-13 SAC).
Coupled with Lenoir-Rhyne's road loss at Mars Hill on Saturday, Tusculum claimed the final spot in the SAC Tournament. The Pioneers and Lenoir-Rhyne finished with 9-13 league records to tie for eighth place. The two teams split their regular season meetings, but TC won the tiebreaker with November's home win over third-place Wingate.
TC will be the No. 8 seed in next week's postseason tournament and will travel to top-seed and 11th-ranked Lincoln Memorial for a SAC Quarterfinal contest at Tex Turner Arena. Tip-off time is slated for 8 p.m.
The Royals jumped out to an early 15-5 lead to open the game and led by as many as 15 (32-17) with 5:23 left in the period following a Jalin Alexander three-pointer. Tusculum mounted a furious rally going on a 15-3 run to trim deficit to 35-32 following a Ronnie Baylark jumper with 1:09 remaining before the half.
Queens' Mike Davis was fouled while shooting a three-pointer with three seconds left as he made all three free throws as the Royals carried a 38-32 lead into the locker room.
The two teams came out of the locker room cold before Todd Withers broke the ice with a three-pointer 1:32 into the period, which jump-started the 19-2 run as the Royals led 59-34 with 12:49 to go. The Pioneers did not have an answer as Queens maintained at least a 20-point cushion for the rest of the contest as the Royals outscored TC 42-22 in the second half.
Daniel Camps led the Royals with 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Mike Davis and Withers contributed 13 and 12 points off the bench, respectively.
TC's Kendall Patterson and Baylark scored 11 points apiece, while Cory Fagan added 10 markers, including a pair of three-pointers to extend his TC record streak to 44 consecutive games with a trey. Chase Mounce added six points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds in the loss.
Tusculum out-rebounded the Royals by a 46-45 margin, including 17 offensive boards, but could only muster seven points on those second chances.
