WINGATE, N.C. --- Josh Dominguez led all scorers with 29 points to pace the Wingate men's basketball team to an 84-67 South Atlantic Conference victory over Tusculum Saturday afternoon at Cuddy Arena.
The Bulldogs (13-7, 10-4 SAC) record their 10th consecutive win and salvage a season-split over the Pioneers (8-12, 5-9 SAC).
Cory Fagan led the Pioneers with his 15 points, all coming from three-point territory as he went 5-of-10 from downtown. Kendall Patterson contributed 12 points, five rebounds, four assists and a game-high five steals. Chase Mounce tallied 10 markers and a team-best nine rebounds in the loss.
Dominguez poured in six of the Bulldogs' 11 three-pointers as he went 6-of-8 from beyond the arc. Zeriq Lolar added 18 markers while Mike Baez finished with 15 points and six assists in the victory.
Wingate broke a 45-45 tie in the second half scoring nine unanswered points to spark 15-4 run as the Bulldogs went up 60-49 with 10:55 to go following a Lolar trey.
Tusculum trimmed the deficit to single digits on two more occasions, including 62-53 following a Patterson layup at the 9:10 mark of the period.
Wingate opened up to a 17-point lead thanks to a 13-5 spurt to move ahead 75-58 with five minutes remaining in the game. TC answered with six straight points on a Mounce three-point play and a Fagan trifecta as the Pioneers trailed 75-64 with 4:18 on the scoreboard.
The Bulldogs put the game away for good with eight straight points to cruise to the victory.
Wingate, who never trailed in the contest, led for 37 minutes and led by as many as nine in the opening half including 39-30 following a Dominguez basket with 3:09 left before halftime. The Pioneers closed out the period with seven straight points, including a back-to-back buckets from Trey Blevins and Patterson, as well as a Fagan three-pointer with eight seconds to go as TC trimmed the deficit to 39-37 at the intermission.
Wingate finished the game shooting 42.6 percent from the floor and 11-of-20 from three three-point territory (55%) including 7-of-11 in the second half (64%). TC, who shot 48.4 percent in the first half, was held to 11-of-35 in the second period for 31.4 percent to finish the contest at 39.4 percent.
The Bulldogs won the rebound battle by a 47-38 margin led by Lee McCall's game-high 14 boards. WU finished with 15 offensive rebounds resulting into 18 second chance points.
Fagan's treys extends his school-record streak to 36 consecutive games with a made three-point field goal.
Tusculum returns home on Wednesday when the Pioneers host Anderson for an 8 p.m. tipoff at Pioneer Arena.
