WINGATE, N.C. --- Andreas Wilson poured in 22 points on six 3-pointers to lead the Wingate University men's basketball team to a 92-75 South Atlantic Conference win over visiting Tusculum University Saturday afternoon at Cuddy Arena.
The Bulldogs (8-2, 5-2 SAC) used a 20-2 run in the first half sparked mostly by Wilson 15 markers in the opening period as Wingate raced out to a 50-33 lead at half. WU records its fourth straight win, while the Pioneers suffer back-to-back losses after opening the league slate with five consecutive victories.
Tusculum's Trenton Gibson led the Pioneers (5-4, 5-2 SAC) with his 22 points which included a career-best four 3-pointers for a third straight outing. He also dished out six assists and hauled in three rebounds.
TU's Justin Mitchell added a season-high 17 points, while Brandon Mitchell accounted for 10 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots.
Wingate got 21 points and seven assists from Donell Nixon, while Sean Elmore and Vontrez Roberts contributed 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Tusculum opened with a 5-2 lead early in the contest, but the Bulldogs erupted for a 20-2 spurt including 16 unanswered in a span of 4:07 to take a 22-7 lead with 10:49 remaining in the first half. Wingate would push their advantage out to a 25-point cushion following a 22-9 spurt as the Bulldogs led 46-21 at the 3:50 mark. Tusculum closed out the period with a 12-4 run including a pair of triples by Gibson and a Zack Dixon trifecta as the Pioneers cut it to a 17-point deficit at the intermission.
The Bulldogs scored seven straight points early in the second half to move the lead out to 57-35 after a Roberts' three-point play. Justin Mitchell answered with a three-pointer, but baskets by Nixon and Elmore pushed the WU lead to 61-38 with 16:54 left.
Wingate would lead 63-40 with 16:02 in regulation, but the Pioneers put together a 13-2 run and cut the Bulldog lead to a dozen at 65-53 with 12:48 left on the clock. After a WU timeout, Tusculum would go into a scoring drought and Wingate took advantage with a 15-1 spurt and took its largest lead of the afternoon at 80-54 with 7:39 remaining.
Tusculum would cut the deficit down to a 12 points at 87-75 following a Jacob Hobbs' tip-in and a Justin Mitchell dunk. But Wingate scored the final five points of the game including a three-point heave by Nixon that went in at the buzzer to provide the final margin of victory for the Bulldogs.
Wingate finished the game shooting 32-of-65 from the floor (49.2%) including 54.3 in the opening period. TU shot 26-of-57 (45.6%) while connecting on nine 3-pointers. The Bulldogs went 19-of-24 at the foul line for 79.2 percent, while Tusculum was 14-of-24 for 58.3 percent. WU out-rebounded the Pioneers by a 39-32 margin including 13-10 on the offensive glass resulting in 15 second-chance points.
The Wingate bench outscored the Tusculum reserves 42-19, while also holding a 38-24 advantage in points in the paint and a 30-21 edge in points off turnovers.
Gibson continued his accent up the Tusculum scoring chart as he surpassed former All-SAC performer Darius Carter (1,338 pts from 2011-2016) for 13th place all-time with 1,342 points.
Tusculum returns to action this Wednesday night when they host Newberry College for a 7:30 p.m. contest at Pioneer Arena. The Wolves (4-5, 4-3 SAC) are coming off a 55-51 win over Carson-Newman. Newberry, who opened the season 0-5, are riding a four-game winning streak.
