Box Score  

Wingate, N.C.----The Wingate University Bulldogs jumped out to a 15-4 lead Saturday afternoon and never looked back, registering a 76-47 victory over the visiting Pioneers of Tusculum College in South Atlantic Conference men’s basketball action in Cuddy Arena. The Bulldogs improve to 6-4 overall and 2-0 in the SAC, while the Pioneers fall to 2-8 overall and 0-2 in the conference.

Sophomore guard Ryan Daye (Burlington, N.C.) netted a career-high 23 points, hitting eight-of-11 shots from the field, including four-of-five shooting from beyond the arc. Daye’s previous career high came in Wingate’s most recent contest at Mount Olive, scoring 22 points against the Trojans. Senior forward Odell Turner (Charlotte, N.C.) had 12 points, six rebounds and four steals, while junior center Deion Turman (Pittsburgh, Pa.) had 10 points and eight rebounds.

“I thought it was a very unselfish performance by our team today on both ends of the floor,” head coach Brian Good says. “We shared the ball well on offense and were willing to rotate and help each other defensively. Ryan Daye gets better every time he hits the court, and he really had a great game tonight. I thought our posts running the floor hard led to him getting a lot of good looks in transition.”

Freshman forward Keith Jumper (Lexington, S.C.) had 10 points to lead the Tusculum attack, hitting four-of-six shots from the field. Sophomore guard Darius Carter (Cascade, Va.) added eight points, while junior guard Addison Flynn (Fayetteville, Ga.) registered five points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Wingate came out on fire, taking a 13-3 lead 4:08 into the opening half. Daye had five points in the opening spurt, while Turman added four points. A jumper from senior guard Ethan Kincaid (Morganton, N.C.) pushed the lead to 11 with 13:22 remaining. Tusculum trimmed the deficit to eight on a triple from Carter at the 12:28 mark. Wingate answered with a 7-0 run, taking a 22-7 advantage on a Daye jumper and Eddie Lewis (Rocky Point, N.C.) three.

A layup from senior center Anton Tuz (Mykolair, Ukraine) made it a 12-point game with 6:21 remaining in the opening half. The ‘Dogs used another 7-0 run, taking a 33-14 lead on a layup from freshman guard Xavier Griffin (Marshville, N.C.). Freshman guard B.J. Fisher (Tucker, Ga.) got Tusculum back to within 15 with a pair of free throws, but buckets from Lewis and Griffin helped Wingate take a 37-20 lead into intermission.

The Bulldogs used an 8-0 run early in the second half to take a 23-point lead less than four minutes into the second frame. Turman started it with a three-point play, while Daye added another triple. The lead would never get lower than 19 the rest of the way. Daye knocked down a triple to push the advantage to 24, while a jumper from Turner made it 64-39 at the 7:53 mark. Wingate closed the game on an 8-0 run, with a dunk from junior forward Jeff Parker (Madison, N.C.) putting an exclamation mark on the dominant performance.

The Bulldogs shot 52.6 percent from the field on the afternoon, shooting 57.7 percent in the opening half. Wingate knocked down six-of-18 shots from beyond the arc (33.3 percent). Tusculum shot 36.4 percent from the field, being held to 21.7 percent shooting in the opening half. The Pioneers hit two-of-eight shots from three-point range (25 percent). Wingate out-rebounded Tusculum 37-27 on the night, out-scoring the Pioneers 36-20 in the paint. Wingate converted 21 Tusculum turnovers into 27 points, while out-scoring the Pioneers 19-2 in fast-break points.

Wingate returns to action Wednesday, hosting Lenoir-Rhyne at 8 p.m. Tusculum hosts Carson-Newman at 8 p.m.