Wingate, N.C.----Wingate University men’s basketball seniors Paidrick Matilus, Ethan Kincaid, Quan Alexander, Odell Turner and Eddie Lewis will conclude their amazing Bulldog careers during the upcoming weeks. The five seniors have compiled a stellar overall record of 75-44 in their collegiate years.

The quintet has two SAC titles and two NCAA appearances. Each player has seen significant minutes as they were put into the rotation from the start. As they grew, they eventually became the core of a back-to-back conference championship team.
 
Family is a term used too frequently, but often utilized in the wrong context. These five guys have demonstrated what it means to be a family. Throughout the entire struggle they have endured in the past years, they have picked each other up no matter what the circumstance.
 
“I recognize how fortunate I’ve been to know these five student-athletes the last four years,” Wingate head coach Brian Good says. “Not only have they set the standard for on-court performance…they have created a culture within our program which should last for years to come.”
 
As they are about to wrap up their intercollegiate basketball careers, the seniors took time to share about their journey together…and how Wingate has changed them forever.
 
Briefly describe your road to Wingate University…
 
Quan Alexander: Coming out of high school, I was being recruited by a few different mid-major Division I schools, so I did not see myself coming to Wingate. I had originally had my mind set on Radford University in Virginia. Some unexpected events happened and I was unable to attend a Division I school. My options were prep school or a Division II program. I chose to come to Wingate because it was a beautiful campus, close to home and (provided) a small learning environment. I felt Wingate would help me become educated more efficiently.
 
Ethan Kincaid: I started playing basketball at the age of five with the help from my mother and uncle. As the years went on, I continued to play like most kids in recreation leagues, middle school and high school. I didn’t play much AAU, so high school was really my only chance of being recruited. I played at Freedom High School, so there were not many opportunities to attract college scouts. I had to make the best effort when I was given the chance to be seen. The chance was given by Coach Good and Coach Brian Reese, which led me here with the Bulldog Family.
 
Eddie Lewis: My road to Wingate, in my eyes, was actually a lucky one. Since I was looking for a collegiate basketball scholarship, I had gone around and sort of ‘tried out’ for teams at other colleges before I committed to Wingate University. I tried out for Mount Olive, Barton and Pfeiffer, to name a few. I did not really get any responses from any of the schools other than a community college, but I did not want to go there. I am truly blessed Wingate offered me an athletic and academic scholarship.
 
Paidrick Matilus: Coach Good came out and scouted me. At first he did not have the money, but then an opportunity presented itself and he brought me up for a visit. He offered me a scholarship and I committed to Wingate.
 
Odell Turner: My road to Wingate started out at Myers Park High School, where I played three years of varsity with Quan Alexander. It was a long journey because I started off with no collegiate looks or offers but at the end of my junior year I had many. I chose Wingate because of the commitment Coach Good instilled in me to show up to my 6 a.m. workouts.”
 
To date, what is your favorite Bulldog basketball memory?
 
Alexander: My favorite basketball memory had to be when I competed in my first-ever collegiate game. I recorded 21 points and seven rebounds. Everything came really easy to me in that game and I had a ton of fun playing. This was the beginning of an excellent college experience for me.
 
Kincaid: For me, I would have to say winning the SAC tournament last year. Even though we just won back-to-back conference championships, this moment was so important because it was like our backs were against the wall and we came out fighting. We knew winning this (2012 title) would be the only way we could continue so we had to win.
 
Lewis: My favorite memory as a Bulldog is when we won our first conference tournament championship in 2011-12. We were not supposed to win. Our pre-season conference prediction was third behind Anderson and Lincoln Memorial. Ironically enough, those were the two teams we beat when we went to Hickory for the semi-finals and final. On top of that, the only way we were going to make it to the NCAA tournament was to win the conference tournament.
 
Matilus: I have a couple of favorites. The first is winning the SAC tournament championship twice because we went through so much throughout the season…to win two times in a row will be an everlasting memory. My second favorite memory would be back during my freshman year, hitting my first-ever game winning shot against Belmont Abbey.
 
Turner: My favorite moment is when we won the SAC tournament last year. What made it more special is we had to win it to go to our first NCAA tournament (as a class). I wanted to help our seniors keep their season alive.
 
Family is a term used frequently at Wingate University. How is this senior class and team a family to you?
 
Alexander: This senior class has literally become my family. I look at those other four guys as brothers and will do so for the rest of my life. We have been through so much together. I have lived with these guys for the past four years and become so close to them and their families. We have become so close that we call each others’ moms ‘mom.’ Those four guys are my brothers and will be for a lifetime. I wouldn’t trade them for anything.
 
Kincaid: The senior class that I came in with bonded within days of arriving at school. We all became really close and started to call each other brothers. This was a term that was used off and on the court throughout our four years here. I feel like because we became so close it brought the team closer. As the team began to expand, our teammates saw how close all five of us were and it turned from all five seniors being close to the entire team being close. This turned us into a family which will continue on even after basketball.
 
Lewis: Family is the term that we, the Wingate Basketball team, use every day before and after practice in our huddle. The seniors of our team are really a family. We consider ourselves similar to blood brothers. We all get along with each others’ family members, we call each other ‘brother’ and we have talked about trying to stay close even after we graduate from school.
 
I believe that our relationship is so close, because it is rare when five athletes stay on a team together through all four years and get along throughout all of those years. Even though we have been seeing each other for more than 60 percent of each year we have been in college, we still dislike being away from each other. I guess you could say we have a kind of group bromance. After looking back on all the hours we put in the gym, doing crazy stuff, having fun, talking about problems and playing together…we are the definition of FAMILY.
 
We have used our relationship with each other to show incoming players in our program what can be done when a whole team is close as us five are. Through the years, everyone on our team has been in good relationships with each other and it has proved to be successful. Togetherness is an important part of athletic success because everyone on the team has to have the same focus and the same determination on the goal. When this happens, it is natural the team will form a strong bond with each other.
 
Matilus: We have always considered our teammates as our brothers since day one. We are around each other all the time and we go to battle with them every day. We are always there to pick each other up so family is the correct term to use to describe WUMBB. It has been a real pleasure and blessing to come in with Ed, Quan, Ethan and Odell. Our time together here at Wingate has created a bond which will never fade, no matter how far or long we are apart from each other. I simply love all my brothers as blood.
 
Turner: The five seniors on the team created the bond during our freshman year. We would do everything together…this bonding made my whole college experience better. We will be brothers forever on and off the court.
 
“Of all the great things I could say about them as players, it would pale in comparison to what I think of them as people,” Good says.
 
WINGATE UNIVERSITY

Wingate University, ranked as the 6th “best value” in the South by U.S. News & World Report, serves nearly 2,700 students on three campuses in Wingate, Matthews and Hendersonville, N.C. Founded in 1896, the University offers 35 undergraduate majors, 37 minors and career concentrations, numerous pre-professional programs, graduate degrees in business, accounting, education, physician assistant studies and sport administration, and doctorates in pharmacy, physical therapy and education.
 
With a 14 to 1 student/teacher ratio, Wingate students gain the tools and support needed to excel in academics and apply that learning toward an extraordinary career and life. To view current news, video and story ideas, visit www.youtube.com/wingateuniversity. 
 
In addition to a robust intramural athletics program, Wingate student athletes compete in 22 NCAA Division II sports. The University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past six years.
 
Wingate is first among NCAA Division II Academic All-America®-producing private colleges in the 2000’s with 52 selections. Among North Carolina’s colleges and universities, Wingate’s 52 Academic All-America® honorees is second (to Duke University) during this millennium. Wingate’s 61 lifetime Academic All-America® picks are tops among all SAC schools. For more information, go to www.wingatebulldogs.com.
 
(Wingate University sports information student assistant Reggie Jenkins contributed this article. Jenkins is a senior Human Services major from Charlotte, N.C.)