Bruce Price Jumper Leads Tigers To Victory
The Tennessee State University
Tigers (3-5, 1-1) snapped a four-game losing streak erasing a 13-point halftime
deficit to defeat the Eastern Illinois Panthers (1-8, 0-2) by a 74-72 score in
Charleston, Illinois.
Junior guard Bruce Price scored a
team-high 21 points, including the winning shot with 0:04 remaining in the
game. Joining Price in double figures were freshmen Gerald Robinson (18) and
Darius Cox (11). Cox also led the Tigers in rebounds with five. Eastern
Illinois' Bobby Catchings finished with a game-high 25 points, and Romain
Martin scored 24 points for the only Panthers in double figures
The Tigers started the game on
even terms with the host Panthers taking a three-point lead 10-7 at the 14:08
mark of the half. EIU surged ahead 24-16 (8:06) and 39-26 at the intermission.
In the First half the Tigers shot a dismal 28% from the floor (9-32), 20%
(2-10), from 3-point range and 60% from the line, while EIU hit on 45.5% from
the field (10-22) and 84% from the foul line (16-19).
In the second half, TSU cut into
the double-digit margin at 18:24 when LaDarious Weaver canned a 3-point basket
for a 42-33 score, but EIU moved back to a ten point lead (49-39) with 13:53
remaining. The Tigers caught the hosts at 67-67 with 4:12 remaining on a
put-back by Rashad Armstrong and the two teams traded leads and ties the rest
of the game. With 0:32 remaining, EIU tied the game at 72-72, but TSU's Bruce
Price was able to get free to hit a jumper with 0:04 remaining. EIU got off a
3-point shot when time expired, but it was not good.
TSU outscored EIU 48-33 in the second
half, shooting hitting a respectable 68% (18-27) from the floor, 50% from
3-point range (4-8) and 57% (8-14) from the line. The Tigers won the battle of
the boards 30-29 and scored twenty points off turnovers. TSU also scored 14
points off fast breaks and 14 points on second chance baskets.
The Tigers will return to action
on Monday, December 17th when they play at Belmont University.
