--- Wingate's Ryan Daye poured in a career-high 35 points to
lead the Bulldogs to a 98-86 South Atlantic Conference men's
basketball win at Tusculum Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Arena.
Daye shot 12-of-16 from the field, including 5-of-9 from
three-point territory. His four misses all came from long-range as
he went a perfect 7-of-7 from inside the arc.
TC senior Addison Flynn matched a career-best with his 34-point
effort shooting 11-of-19 from the floor, including six 3-pointers.
The Pioneers (1-5, 0-2 SAC) had four players score in double
figures, including Jalen Walker with a dozen points and 11 points
apiece from Darius Carter and Keith Jumper.
Wingate dominated play in the paint, outscoring Tusculum by a 40-14
margin, including 20-6 in the opening half. The Bulldogs also
scored 22 second-chance points on the day.
Wingate (2-1, 2-0 SAC) led wire-to-wire as the Bulldogs shot
16-of-28 from the floor in the opening half with six 3-pointers and
shot 13-of-14 at the free throw line (92.9%) en route to a 51-34
lead at the intermission. WU's Isiah Cureton scored 13 of his 15
points in the first half. Flynn was the lone bright spot in the
first 20 minutes for Tusculum as the Pioneers shot 38.7 percent
from the field (12-of-31) while being out-rebounded by a 21-11
margin at the intermission.
Wingate bumped its lead out to an 18-point advantage (55-37)
following a Daye layup with 17:30 remaining in the contest.
Tusculum mounted a 13-4 run over the next 5:01 to trim the deficit
to 59-50 following Jumper's three-point play with 12:49 left on the
clock. Wingate responded with five straight points of its own,
capped off by a layup from Daye to move the lead to 64-50 with 11
minutes to go.
Flynn canned a trey, but Daye answered with one of his own on the
ensuing trip down the floor. TC put together a 10-3 spurt to trim
the Wingate lead to 70-63 with 8:04 remaining as Flynn and BJ
Fisher canned back-to-back treys.
After a timeout, Flynn made a pair of free throws to make it a
73-65 game, but the Bulldogs would score seven unanswered points,
including a layup and a three-pointer from Day for an 80-65 lead
with six minutes to go.
Tusculum cut the deficit to 10 with five straight markers,
including a Flynn trey and a pair of free throws from Carter to
trail 80-70 with 5:10 left.
But another 7-0 Wingate run put the visitors up 89-72 with 2:49
remaining to put the game out of reach.
Tusculum outscored the Bulldogs 52-47 in the second half as the
Pioneers shot 14-of-28 from the field to finish the game shooting
44 percent (26-of-59). TC ended the game shooting 80 percent at the
foul line, including 19-of-25 in the second half.
Wingate continued its hot-shooting in the second period making
16-of-30 (53.3%) to finish the game at a 55.2 percent clip. The
Bulldogs also shot 9-of-19 from beyond the arc, but came back to
earth at the free throw line, shooting 12-of-24 at the stripe in
the final 20 minutes to finish the game at 65.8 percent from the
stripe.
Both teams took care of the basketball as the two squads combined
for only 15 turnovers in the game (WU 8, TC 7).
Wingate's Jeff Parker finished with a double-double of 14 points
and 10 rebounds as he shot 6-of-6 from the free throw line and
blocked two shots. Cureton added eight rebounds and five assists,
while Xavier Griffin finished with seven points and four assists in
the Bulldogs' sixth straight victory over the Pioneers.
Carter contributed six assists for the Pioneers, while shooting
8-of-8 from the charity stripe, while Walker tallied four helpers
and a pair of 3-pointers as TC shot 10-of-25 from downtown (40%).
Matt Shown led TC on the boards with seven rebounds to go along
with his six points. Neal Spinks tallied nine points and two
blocked shots in the loss.
Tusculum returns to action on Tuesday night, hosting Brevard for an
8 p.m. SAC contest at Pioneer Arena.
