Wingate, N.C.----The Wingate University men’s basketball team will host the Tornados of Brevard College Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. in Cuddy Arena. The Bulldogs enter the weekend 10-5 overall and 3-1 in the South Atlantic Conference. Brevard is also 10-5 on the year with a 3-2 record in the SAC.

Wingate notched a 93-81 win at Carson-Newman College Wednesday night. Wingate freshman center Odell Turner (Charlotte, N.C.) had 18 points for the visiting Bulldogs. Senior Larry Staley (Charlotte, N.C.) hit seven-of-eight shots from the floor en route to a 16-point performance. Staley filled out his stat sheet with four rebounds and a team-high four assists.

Freshman guard Paidrick Matilus (Boynton Beach, Fla.) added 13 points on five-of-seven shooting, while classmate Quan Alexander (Charlotte, N.C.) had 11 points and six rebounds. Freshman guard Ethan Kincaid (Morganton, N.C.) had 10 points and five rebounds off the bench, while senior guard/forward David Johnson (Durham, N.C.) flirted with a double-double. Johnson had nine points and a team-best seven rebounds.

In their last home game, the Bulldogs ran past Lincoln Memorial 86-71 on January 2. Turner topped the Bulldog charts with 16 points. He filled out his stat sheet with five rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots and two steals. Sophomore guard Jaime Vaughn (McDonough, Ga.) had 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Staley contributed 11 points and five rebounds.

The Bulldogs feature an incredibly balanced attack, with five players scoring in double figures. Turner leads the way with 13.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Matilus and Staley are next at 11.6 and 11.5 points per game, respectively. Vaughn is scoring 10.3 points per game, while Alexander checks in with 10.2 points per game. All five rank in the top 25 on the league scoring charts. Turner is also fourth in the SAC with 1.80 blocks per game. Staley is second in the conference, shooting 60.2 percent from the field. As a team, Wingate leads the league in turnover margin and ranks second in scoring margin.

The Tornados are led by Jonathan Whitson (Clyde, N.C.), who is fifth in the league with 16.5 points per game and second with 8.5 rebounds per game. Senior forward Jacques Dovonou (Douala, Cameroon) is second on the team with 12.2 points per game, while Sam Carlisle (Raleigh, N.C.) averaging 10.5 points per game and is third in the SAC with 8.0 boards per game.

The two teams met twice last season, with each team winning at home. DeMario Mattox had 19 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals while Staley added 14 points in the 81-72 victory in Cuddy Arena. Whitson had 18 points and 10 rebounds in Brevard’s 59-56 home win. Vaughn had 13 for the Bulldogs in the loss.

WINGATE UNIVERSITY

Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a private four-year co-educational institution of 2,159 students offering active learning opportunities through personalized instruction, world travel, career discovery and community service.

Wingate offers more than 40 undergraduate majors in arts and sciences, business, communication, education, fine arts, music and sport sciences. It also offers graduate degrees in business, education, physician assistant studies and sport administration. In addition, the school awards the doctor of pharmacy and the doctor of education degrees.

Bulldog student-athletes compete in 19 NCAA Division II sports. Wingate University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past three years.

Wingate University is ranked number three among NCAA Division II Academic All-America® producing schools in the 2000’s with 34 honorees during this millennium. Only Pittsburg State (Kan.) University and Truman State (Mo.) University have produced more Academic All-America® honorees during this time period. Wingate’s 43 Academic All-America® honorees (lifetime) is tops among all SAC schools.

(Wingate University assistant sports information director Hugh Patton wrote this article. Patton is a 2006 Wingate graduate with a B.A. degree in Communication Studies.)