By Rob Schabert, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – With finals exams spread out before them this coming week, the Tennessee Tech basketball team had one final test to their unblemished home record Sunday afternoon in Eblen Center before taking a break from action.
Thanks to a dominating team effort over the final 12 minutes of the first half, the Golden Eagles (5-3) improved to 5-0 on their home floor with an 87-48 victory over Hiwassee College.
Nursing a four-point, 14-10 lead with 12 minutes to play in the half, the Golden Eagles went on a 19-3 run to take control of the contest. The most impressive note is that six different Golden Eagles put points on the board in the run.
Anthony Morse opened the stretch with a slam dunk, and Aleksa Jugovic capped it with his second 3-pointer, that trey coming with 5:21 to play for a 33-13 Golden Eagle lead. In between, Tech got also points from Torrance Rowe, Javon McKay, Charles Jackson and Mason Ramsey.
Jackson finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds for his seventh double-double in the first eight games of the season. Jordan Johnson added a career-best 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting including 4-for-5 from downtown.
At the close of the 39-point victory, all 12 Golden Eagle players were in the scoring column. Notable among them, Shirmane Thomas had six points, three assists and four steals, Josiah Moore added nine points, six rebounds and two steals, DeOndre Haynes finished with five points, four rebounds and a team-high five assists, and Ramsey had five points and six rebounds.
Hiwassee (1-12) was led by Aario Johnson with 12 points and eight rebounds, two steals and one blocked shot.
Tech limited Hiwassee to 29.2 percent shooting (19-for-65) and forced 23 turnovers. The Golden Eagles shot 47 percent (31-for-66) from the field and squeezed out a 43-42 edge on the boards. Tech had 11 steals and 10 turnovers.
The largest lead in the game was 41 points, when Johnson knocked down a 3-pointer with 2:53 to play for an 81-40 margin.
No games are scheduled this week for the Golden Eagles as the team takes a break from action for final exams. Tech is back in action Saturday (Dec. 13) with an 8 p.m. road contest at the University of Alabama. It's the opening of a four-game road stretch that also includes stops at UNF, Tennessee and UMKC, before returning to Eblen Center for a Dec. 29 rematch against UNF.
GOLDEN NUGGETS: It didn't take nearly as long for Tech and Hiwassee to meet since their last contest, as it did the first time around. Tech and the Tigers played twice in the 1929-30 season, then didn't meet again for 80 years, with a 2010 game played at Livingston Academy. This time, it was just a four-year break between games….Tech improved to 4-0 all-time against Hiwassee…Steve Payne will speak Tuesday at the weekly Sidelines Lunch in the Eagles Nest of Eblen Center, an event that begins at 11:30 a.m. and is open to the public….
