Jefferson City, Tenn-----Carson-Newman University held visiting Wingate to a season-low 27 percent shooting from the field while shooting 54 percent en route to an 81-60 South Atlantic Conference victory over the Bulldogs Saturday afternoon in Holt Fieldhouse. Wingate (7-5, 4-2 SAC) drops its fourth straight game overall and third straight to Carson-Newman (5-7, 3-3 SAC). Saturday marked only the second time since 1999 that Wingate was held under 30 percent shooting from the field.
Senior guard Ryan Daye (Burlington, N.C.), who went over 1,000 career points on Wednesday, led the visiting Bulldogs with 17 points. Freshman guard Zeriq Lolar (Orlando, Fla.) added 12 points for his fifth double-figure game of the season. Sophomore forwards Josh Dominguez (Matthews, N.C.) and Isiah Cureton (Waxhaw, N.C.) each scored nine points with Cureton grabbing a game-high nine rebounds.
Carson-Newman sophomore forward Sawyer Williams (Owenton, Ky.) equaled Daye's 17 points with seven rebounds off the bench to lead the Eagles. Senior guard Jared Johnson (Springfield, Mass.) put in 15 points along with five rebounds.
Junior point guard Xavier Griffin (Marshville, N.C.) drained an early three from the top of the key to tie it up at four but the 'Dogs missed their next ten shots to fall down 19-8 at the midway point on the first half. A Dominguez offensive rebound and layup would ignite an 11-4 Wingate run to pull the Bulldogs within four. Daye, Griffin and Cureton all scored in the spurt. It would be short lived as CNU responded right back, ending the first half on a 13-3 run to take a 36-22 advantage at the break.
The momentum swings would continue in the second half with Wingate outscoring the Eagles 11-3 to start the second period to pull within six with 15:30 remaining. Five different Bulldogs scored the 11 points with Lolar capping the run with a jumper. Carson-Newman would come right back once again to swing the momentum back in favor of the home team. The Eagles turned a six-point lead into 17-point advantage with a 14-3 scoring run over the next seven minutes.
Wingate would make one more run down the stretch. Trailing 54-39 with 8:01 remaining, the 'Dogs rattled off 12 points in the next 2:30 to pull within five of the Eagles. Daye scored six of the 12, including an old fashioned three point play at the end of the run. For the third straight time, the Eagles had an emphatic response and would put the game away down the stretch.
Wingate went six-for-27 from beyond the arc against the Carson-Newman zone defense, while the Eagles shot six-of-13 from downtown. The Eagles had a 41-31 advantage in rebounds along with a 40-15 advantage in points in the paint.
After five of the first six SAC games have been on the road, the Bulldogs returns home for two straight league games starting with Lenoir-Rhyne on Wednesday night. Wingate knocked off the Bears 70-58 back in Hickory in November.
