Greenville, S.C.----The third-seeded Wingate University Bulldogs will take on second-seeded Anderson University in the semifinals of the 2013 Food Lion Men’s SAC basketball Tournament Saturday night at 8 p.m. at Timmons Arena (Free Live Video, Live Stats). The contest is a rematch of the 2012 SAC championship game, which Wingate won 66-59. This will be the seventh meeting between the Bulldogs and the Trojans in less than 14 months. The teams enter the contest with identical 19-8 overall records, while both teams went 14-4 in SAC play.

The Bulldogs advanced to the SAC Tournament semifinals for the third consecutive year with Wednesday night’s 83-77 victory over Newberry. Wingate has now won seven straight games against the Wolves. The Bulldogs will be looking to advance to the SAC championship game for the third straight year. Wingate defeated Catawba in the 2011 semifinals to advance to the championship game, where the Bulldogs lost 68-58 against Lincoln Memorial. The ‘Dogs would then defeat LMU in the SAC semifinals in overtime in 2012, overcoming a 13-point deficit with 10 minutes remaining. Wingate then led wire-to-wire against the Trojans in the SAC title game, winning by seven points to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

“This is our seventh time playing them in two years, so I would say we are familiar with each other,” head coach Brian Good says. “They are a great program with a great coach. We will need to be very solid on both ends. It should be a fantastic game.”

Wednesdays’ game against Newberry featured eight ties and 17 lead changes. Senior guard Paidrick Matilus (Boynton Beach, Fla.) led the Bulldogs with a career-high 30 points. The second team All-SAC selection knocked down four triples on the night, while going eight-for-eight from the free throw line. Junior center Deion Turman (Pittsburgh, Pa.) added 19 points and seven rebounds, going eight-for-eight from the field. Sophomore guard Ryan Daye (Burlington, N.C.) added 14 points and five assists, while senior forward Odell Turner (Charlotte, N.C.) had eight points and 15 rebounds, becoming just the fourth player in league-history to collect 900 career rebounds. Senior guard Ethan Kincaid (Morganton, N.C.) contributed nine points and nine assists for the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs and Trojans split the regular season series, with each team winning on the other team’s home court. Wingate closed the game on a 23-11 run to win 66-55 at Anderson. Turman piled up 16 points and 14 rebounds, while Matilus also had 16 points for the Bulldogs. Kincaid had 13 points, three assists and three steals, while Turner registered 12 points and eight rebounds. Myson Jones, DJ McGowan and Chandler Hash had 10 points each for the Trojans.

Anderson went 10-for-17 from three-point range in Cuddy Arena, led by Hash, who knocked down nine-of-11 shots from beyond the arc en route to 33 points to lead the Trojans to a 76-73 victory. Denzail Jones added 20 points, while Kyle Sledge added 12 points for Anderson. Turman had 17 points and seven boards to lead the Wingate attack, while Matilus added 16 points, five rebounds and three assists. Daye and Turner chipped in with 13 points each for the Bulldogs.

Wingate’s balanced attack features three players averaging over 11.5 points per game and seven scoring over 5.5 points per contest. Matilus leads the team with 12.7 points per game, shooting 40 percent from three-point range and 80.6 percent from the free throw line. Turner is scoring 11.8 points per game, while ranking second in the SAC with 9.2 rebounds per contest and sixth in the league in field goal percentage (53.2 percent). The second team All-SAC selection has 914 career rebounds. He is five rebounds shy of Wingate’s all-time record, and 10 away from the all-time SAC record. Daye is scoring 11.5 points per game, ranking eighth in the SAC in three-point field goal percentage (43.4 percent).

Turman is averaging 9.1 points per game, while shooting a league-best 67.1 percent from the field. He has been even better against SAC opponents, shooting 67.5 percent. Turman is fifth in the conference with 1.1 blocks per game and sixth with 7.1 rebounds per contest. Kincaid ranks second in the SAC with 4.6 assists per game and fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio.

Anderson is led by Hash, the first team All-SAC selection. He ranks fifth with 17.8 points per game, shooting 48.2 percent from three-point range. Hash is second in the SAC, making 3.4 three pointers per game. Bo Holston is averaging 11.1 points per game for the Trojans, while Myson Jones is scoring 8.6 points per game, shooting a league-best 49.4 percent from beyond the arc.

The winner of the Wingate-Anderson contest takes on the winner of the Carson-Newman vs. Lincoln Memorial game in the SAC championship game. The championship game will take place Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at Timmons Arena.