Box Score
 
Wingate, N.C.----Six different Bulldogs had at least eight points Wednesday night as the Wingate University Bulldogs opened conference play with a 74-52 victory over visiting Catawba College in South Atlantic Conference men's basketball action in Cuddy Arena. Wingate improves to 1-1 overall and 1-0 in the SAC, while Catawba falls to 0-4 overall and 0-1 in the conference.

Senior center Deion Turman (Pittsburgh, Pa.) had 18 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Wingate attack. Sophomore guard Xavier Griffin (Marshville, N.C.) had a career-high 16 points, adding six rebounds and two assists. Freshman Josh Dominguez (Matthews, N.C.) contributed 11 points and six rebounds, while senior forward Jeff Parker (Madison, N.C.) had 10 points, six rebounds and six blocks. Freshman Isiah Cureton (Waxhaw, N.C.) had nine points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals, while freshman forward Keith Griffin (Concord, N.C.) had eight points and 10 rebounds.

Tyrece Little had 15 points, nine rebounds and five blocks to lead the Catawba attack. Kijuan Arrington added 13 points and four rebounds. Reggie Perkins and Julian Sampah added six points each.

Catawba jumped out to an early 11-8 lead five minutes in. Wingate answered with a 9-0 run to take a 17-11 lead. Buckets from Xavier Griffin and Parker put Wingate on top, while a three-point play from Xavier Griffin made it 17-11. Four Turman free throws, along with a Turman jumper made it 23-14 at the midway point. The 'Dogs added a 7-0 run to push the lead to 16. Xavier Griffin started it with a three, then added a layup while a Parker dunk made it 37-21. Wingate led 37-23 at halftime.

A three-point play from Cureton, followed by a Turman layup made it 46-25. A jumper from Little and a three pointer from Nick Houston cut the lead to 11. Cureton and Dominguez answered with buckets to push the lead back to 16 with five minutes to go. A jumper from Sampah made it 63-49 with 3:40 to go. Wingate closed the game on a 9-2 run to make the final margin 74-52. Dominguez had five points in the late spurt.

The Bulldogs shot 40 percent from the field, hitting three-of-eight shots from three-point range (37.5 percent). Wingate knocked down 19-of-23 free throws on the night (82.6 percent). The Bulldogs dominated the boards, out-rebounding Catawba 57-35, outscoring the Indians 40-14 in the paint.

Wingate is back in action Saturday, traveling to Tusculum at 4 p.m. The Bulldogs return home Tuesday, hosting Lenoir-Rhyne at 6 p.m.