CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The No. 10/12 Queens University of Charlotte men's basketball team returned to it's winning ways on Wednesday night, earning an 85-59 victory over Tusculum University inside Curry Arena.
 
In the team's return home from a three-game road trip, Queens (9-3, 7-2 SAC) held Tusculum to a 34.5 percent shooting performance and forced 18 Pioneer turnovers. In comparison, the Royals shot 48.3 percent from the floor and held a 43-33 advantage in total rebounds.
 
After Tusculum (6-4, 6-4 SAC) opened the game with a free throw due to an equipment malfunction from Queens, the Royals raced out to a double-digit lead, 17-7, over the course of the game's first eight minutes of play.  A jumper by junior Kenny Dye late in the half put the Royals up by their largest lead of 21 points as Queens carried a 48-29 advantage into the halftime break.
 
The Queens' lead quickly grew to a 25-point spread, 57-32, following back-to-back layups from sophomore Gavin Rains with 17:19 to play. Tusculum never got any closer than a 19-point deficit in the final half of play as a layup from freshman Stephen Minor with 1:44 on the clock gave the Royals their largest lead of the contest at 83-51.
 
Rains secured his second straight double-double and third of the season with game-highs of 15 points and 10 rebounds. Dye finished with 14 points and four assists, entering the program's all-time Top 10 for career assists in the process. The Jacksonville, N.C. native now has 272 assists for his career, ranking 10^th in program history.
 
Redshirt-sophomore Jamari Smith score 12 points, followed by 11 points and five rebounds from redshirt-freshman AJ McKee. Sophomore Jay'Den Turner had eight points and six rebounds in 12 minutes of action off of the bench.
 
The Royals will have some time to rest after four games in eight days as the team's next contest doesn't come until Wednesday, Jan. 27 against Newberry College on the road.