BLUEFIELD — Maybe it was the delay on waiting for the referees to arrive or maybe it was Tusculum’s defensive effort.

Whatever the reason, Mountain State couldn’t buy a basket in their final game of the Currence Classic.

The Cougars were held to 30.5 percent shooting including a dismal 2-of-23 from deep in their 50-47 victory over the Pioneers Saturday at Bluefield State’s Ned Shott Gymnasium

“Very odd victory to shoot as poorly as we did,” Mountain State coach Bob Bolen said. “Probably our worst shooting game in five or six years. Defensively, I thought we played great. Very physical game.

“I thought both teams struggled to get easy shots. I was real proud of our guys. We refused to lose at the end. We scored the last six of the game. I was proud of our guys for refusing to lose.”

Tusculum wasn’t much better offensively as the Pioneers shot 30.6 percent from the floor and made 3-of-11 from behind the arc.

“Obviously, Mountain State is an extremely talented basketball team,” Tusculum coach Michael Jones said. “They’ve got amazing athletes that are just so special and skilled. I felt like we did a lot of things to hurt ourselves.

“When you give up 22 turnovers and you allow a team to get 16 offensive rebounds, it’s going to be hard to beat anybody. I thought we did some good things tonight that I was pleased with. I didn’t think we acted intimidated or we didn’t back down from a very good basketball team.”

The Pioneers (2-4) had 22 turnovers and allowed Mountain State (7-3) to grab 16 offensive rebounds including a key one late.

The Cougars’ David Nyarsuk grabbed Isaiah Hill’s miss with just over a minute left then hit Mark Williams to give Mountain State a 48-47 lead.

Williams would hit two free throws with 14 seconds to stretch the lead to three and Kevin Vest’s last-second three-point attempt rattled off the rim giving the Cougars the victory.

“I feel good,” Bolen said. “We beat two good NCAA Division II teams. I feel great to get two victories. Although offensively, it wasn’t your normal Mountain State team.

“We haven’t scored 50 points ever. That’s the lowest scoring in the history of the school. To still get a win, I’m just really proud of our guys how hard they played defensively and how we hit a couple there at the end when we needed to.”

The Cougars jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead and kept the lead until the Pioneers’ Darius Carter connected from deep with 15:11 left in the first half to make it 11-9. Tusculum’s lead would grow to eight on several occasions, the last following a basket by Anton Tuz at the 7:31 mark in the first half.

A late spurt by Mountain State would cut the deficit to 25-24 at the half.

The Cougars grabbed the lead two minutes into the second half after two straight baskets from Cam Miller which made it 28-27.

Over the next six minutes, Mountain State expanded its lead to 40-33, but then went silent from the floor once again. They wouldn’t score again until Nyarsuk hit a bank shot to make it 42-41 with just over seven minutes remaining.

Tusculum would regain the lead one final time at 47-44, but the Cougars scored the final six points to sweep their two games in the Currence Classic.

“I guess there are going to be nights where you don’t make shots,” Bolen said. “Defensively, we can be good every night. We were good defensively.

“We blocked a lot of shots. Those are big. I’m happy to get a win like that.”

Hill and Miller both finished with 10 points for Mountain State. Hill added eight rebounds. Drungys and Williams each had nine points.

Vest led the Pioneers with 10 points. Jordan Davidson chipped in with eight points and 10 boards while Carter finished with nine points.

— E-mail: jgreene@bdtonline.com