WINGATE, N.C. --- Wingate University placed five players in double-figure scoring in leading the Bulldogs to a 94-86 South Atlantic Conference win over Tusculum College Monday night at Cuddy Arena.
Wingate (10-4, 6-2 SAC) used an 11-0 run in the first half and led by as many as 19 in the second before the Pioneers (7-6, 3-5 SAC) made a late run but ran out of time in the end as the Bulldogs remain in third place in the league standings.
Wingate's Josh Dominguez led all scorers with 19 points as he shot 4-of-5 from the floor and 10-of-12 at the free throw line. Xavier Griffin added 18 points and six assists, while Isiah Cureton added 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Zeriq Lolar and Anthanee Doyle tallied 12 and 11 points respectively for the Bulldogs.
Tusculum's Darius Carter posted 18 points, all coming in the second half after suffering first period foul trouble. Javon Price added 18 points, including four 3-pointers. Chase Mounce connected on his first five field goal attempts en route to scoring 17 points, while also hauling in a game-high nine rebounds. Kendall Patterson scored a season-best 17 points with four treys and dished out five assists for the Pioneers.
The contest bounced back and forth early as the lead exchanged hands eight times in the first 12 minutes. Tusculum got a three-pointer from Price to take a 24-20 lead with 9:06 left in the opening half. With TC leading 26-24 with eight minutes to go before halftime, the Bulldogs scored 11 unanswered points over a span of 2:23 to take a 35-26 lead.
Tusculum chipped away at the deficit and got a Johnathan Knight bucket and two free throws from Fagan as Wingate's lead was cut to 45-39 at the intermission.
The Bulldogs led 54-48 early in the second half and went on a 14-2 spurt to move out to a 68-50 advantage with 13:09 left on the scoreboard.
Wingate took its largest lead of the night at 77-58 as Dominiguez made one of two free throws with 9:48 remaining. Tusculum made a couple of runs down the stretch, but Wingate answered each of them and shot 7-of-8 from the free throw line in the final 40 seconds to hold onto the eight-point victory.
The Bulldogs finished the game shooting 48.4 percent from the floor, including 15-of-27 (55.6%) in the first half. Tusculum shot 45 percent for the game, but were outscored in the paint by a 40-24 margin. The Pioneers connected on a dozen three-pointers going 12-of-27 (44.4%) from beyond the arc. Wingate won the rebound battle (42-37) and shot 28-of-35 from the charity stripe for the game (80%), while TC went 10-of-17 (59%).
The Pioneers will play their third game in five days as they host Mars Hill University for an 8 p.m. contest at Pioneer Arena.
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