Greeneville, Tenn.----With two key frontcourt players missing Saturday afternoon, freshman forward Mike Tyson (Kinston, N.C.) stepped in with 12 points, eight rebounds and six blocks to lead the visiting Wingate University Bulldogs past Tusculum College 60-51 in South Atlantic Conference men’s basketball action Saturday afternoon. Wingate wins its fourth straight game, improving to 7-7 overall and 3-1 in the SAC. The Pioneers fall to 5-7 overall and 2-2 in the conference.
 
Tyson led Wingate’s balanced attack, which had six players score at least five points. Junior guard Paidrick Matilus (Boynton Beach, Fla.) had 11 points, knocking down all three shots from beyond the arc. Junior guard Eddie Lewis (Rocky Point, N.C.) added nine points, while senior guard Jaime Vaughn (Tallahassee, Fla.) had eight points and three steals for the Bulldogs.
 
Junior forward Jordan Davidson (Virginia Beach, Va.) had a game-high 22 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Tusculum attack. Senior center Tommy Klempin (Reynoldsburg, Ohio) added seven points and four rebounds for the Pioneers.
 
Triples from Vaughn and Carpenter gave the Bulldogs an early seven-point lead five minutes into the opening half. The Pioneers trimmed the lead to three when a layup from freshman guard Darius Carter (Cascade, Va.) made it 13-10 at the 12:57 mark. A three from Vaughn, followed by a bucket from Tyson gave Wingate a double-digit lead with 6:32 remaining. A triple from Lewis pushed the lead to 14 with 4:24 to go. A Kevin Vest (Dayton, Ohio) layup got Tusculum to within nine at the 2:17 mark. The ‘Dogs scored the final seven points of the half capped by a Matilus triple with three seconds left in the half to make it 37-21.
 
The Pioneers trimmed the deficit to 11 at the 13:55 mark of the second half. Back-to-back Tyson buckets pushed the lead back to 15. A layup from Klempin made it a 12-point game, but a steal and a layup from Lewis made it 50-34 at the 9:40 mark. Senior guard Justin Steigerwald (Cincinnati, Ohio) knocked down a triple with 5:21 to go to make it 52-42, getting the Pioneers as close as they would be until the final seconds.
 
A Vaughn layup, followed by a free throw from junior forward Odell Turner (Charlotte, N.C.) made it 55-42 with four minutes to go. Matilus added a triple less than a minute later to push the lead to 14. The Pioneers scored seven of the game’s final nine points to make the final score a single-digit decision.
 
The Bulldogs shot 39 percent from the field, while hitting nine-of-20 from three-point range (45 percent). Tusculum shot 38.5 percent from the field, while hitting only two-of-10 from beyond the arc (20 percent). Wingate held a slim 37-34 rebounding advantage on the afternoon, while converting 18 turnovers into 25 points.
 
Wingate returns to action Wednesday, traveling to Lenoir-Rhyne for an 8 p.m. start. Tusculum hosts Carson-Newman Wednesday at 8 p.m.