Tigers Play Well Early, Lose Late To Belmont 82-71

Freshman Gerald Robinson, Jr. paced the Tennessee State Tigers (3-6) with 19 points, but the Belmont Bruins (7-4) surged to an 82-71 win over the Big Blue at the Curb Events Center on the Belmont campus in Nashville on Monday night (12/17/07).

The TSU Tigers played the game close in the early minutes forcing three ties in the first four minutes. With 15:34 remaining in the first half, Gerald Robinson's 3-pointer put the Tigers' ahead 14-13 and TSU went on to build a 28-20 lead with 7:07 remaining. From that point on Belmont went on a 16-3 run to build a 36-30 lead with 1:11 left. LaDarious Weaver's 3-pointer with two second remaining sent the teams into the intermission with the hosts leading 36-33.

In the second half, TSU battled back to tie the score at 38-38 (18:17), but Belmont again surged forward with a 20-6 run over the next five minutes for a 57-44 lead at 13:22. TSU battled back to within 5 points ( 54-59) with 8:53 left, but the Bruins held off the Tigers and built a 16-point lead (80-64) with 1:50 left in the game. TSU shaved the final margin to 11 points, 82-71, for the final score.

The Tigers had two other players join Robinson in double-figures, as Bruce Price netted 18 points and LaDarious Weaver canned 11 points. Price led the Tigers in assists (5) and Moray Ivy led TSU in rebounds (5).

Belmont had four players in double-figures, led by guard Justin Hare's 23, followed by Matthew Dotson (16), Shane Dansby (12) and Andy Wicke (11).

Belmont finished with a 40-27 advantage over the Tigers on the boards and outscored TSU 15-3 in second chance points. Both teams had 20 turnovers in the game.

Tennessee State next plays at Vanderbilt on Saturday, December 22, 2007. The game will be telecast on CSS-TV.