WINGATE, N.C. --- The Wingate men's basketball team used a 10-3 run late in the game and held off a furious Tusculum rally to post a 70-65 South Atlantic Conference win Saturday afternoon at Cuddy Arena.

The Bulldogs (9-7, 6-4 SAC) complete the season sweep of the Pioneers (1-14, 1-9 SAC) led by Isiah Cureton's double-double of 11 points and 14 rebounds in the victory.

Tusculum junior guard Javon Price scored a game-high 24 points for his fourth 20-point outing in his last five contests. Price shot 5-of-10 from three-point land, connecting on a trey in his seventh consecutive game.

TC sophomore center Chase Mounce recorded 19 points, including 17 in the second half. The Elkin, N.C. native played only five minutes in a foul-plagued first half, but finished the game shooting 6-of-9 from the field and 7-of-9 from the free throw line to go along with his five rebounds.

Sophomore guard Zach Davis accounted for eight points and a team-best 11 rebounds before fouling out of the game with 6:29 left in the game.

Junior forward Matt Shown finished the day with five points and eight rebounds, ending his bid for a fourth consecutive double-double, which would have been a first in the TC modern era.

Anthanee Doyle was the Bulldogs' leading scorer with 14 points off the bench, while Zavier Griffin and Ryan Daye scored 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Wingate scored the first seven points of the game, before Tusculum answered with an 8-2 spurt as the Bulldogs led 9-8 at the 13:13 mark of the half. WU closed out the first period with seven unanswered points over the final two minutes to take a 35-27 lead into the locker room.

Xavier Griffin drained a three-pointer to give the Bulldogs their largest lead of the game at 38-27 in the opening moments of the second half.

The Pioneers chipped away at the deficit and stayed within striking distance for remainder of the afternoon.

With Wingate leading 56-50 with 7:23 left, Tusculum went on an 8-1 run as TC took its first lead of the day at 58-57 with 3:48 to go following a pair of free throws by Mounce who accounted for six points during the run.

But the Bulldogs used its third 7-0 run of the game to regain the lead and extend it to 64-59 with 2:07 remaining. The 7-0 spurt was highlighted by a Zeriq Lolar trey, which gave Wingate a two possession lead.

Wingate led 68-62, but the Price trimmed the deficit in half with his fifth 3-pointer of the game as TC trailed 68-65 with nine seconds left. Xavier Griffin put the game out of reach with his two free throws to provide the final margin. Griffin finished the game shooting 6-of-7 from the charity stripe.

Tusculum senior guard Mason Fox dished out a game-high six assists, while recording four points and three steals.

Wingate shot 43 percent from the field, while limiting Tusculum to shoot 35 percent, including 7-of-25 in the first half. WU edged Tusculum on the boards by a 40-37 margin.

The two teams combined for 51 fouls on the day as TC went 26-for-38 at the free throw line (68.4%), including 75 percent in the second half (15-of-20). Wingate shot just 56 percent from the foul line (19-of-34), but forced 16 TC turnovers, resulting into 21 points for the home team.

The Pioneers will be in action on Monday when they travel to Johnson City to take on NCAA Division I East Tennessee State University for a 7 p.m. contest at Freedom Hall. Monday's game will be an exhibition contest for the Pioneers, but will count for the Buccaneers (10-6).

- TC -