Wingate, N.C.----The Bluefield State Big Blue led by as many as 21 Saturday afternoon, then withstood a furious rally from Wingate University that saw the lead trimmed to one before hanging on for a 94-88 victory in NCAA Division II men's basketball action in Cuddy Arena. Bluefield State improves to 5-9 overall, while Wingate falls to 9-5 on the year.

KEY STATS

- Wingate shot 55 percent from the field; Bluefield State shot 50 percent
- The Big Blue went 10-for-31 from three-point range; the 'Dogs went eight-for-20 from deep
- The Bulldogs held a 39-33 rebounding advantage; BSU had a 21-12 edge in second-chance point
- Bluefield State scored 26 points off 19 Wingate turnovers
- The 'Dogs had a 27-23 edge in fast-break points and 30-17 edge in bench points
- Wingate shot 63 percent from the field in the second half, knocking down seven-of-12 threes

KEY BULLDOGS

- Vontrez Roberts had 17 points and 10 rebounds, going seven-for-11 from the field
- Jarren Cottingham had 16 points, four rebounds and three assists on eight-of-12 shooting
- Andreas Wilson added 16 points, knocking down five triples
- Destin Clark had 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists on six-of-eight shooting
- Donell Nixon contributed 12 points, six boards, two assists and two steals
- Josh Massey had 12 points, two rebounds and an assist

FIRST HALF

- Back-to-back Kaine McColley threes gave Bluefield State a 14-6 lead five minutes in
- A Jordan Hinds layup pushed the lead to 11
- A Malik Tidwell jumper made it 29-10 at the 8:25 mark
- Hinds put the Big Blue on top by 21 with 5:28 to go
- WU scored the next eight, getting buckets from Clark, Cottingham and Nixon in the flurry
- Tidwell's triple pushed the lead back to 17 with 2:35 remaining
- Buckets from Roberts and Cottingham in the final minute cut the halftime deficit to 13 at 46-33

SECOND HALF

- A Nixon triple and Roberts bucket cut the lead to seven just over two minutes in to the second half
- A Hirotaka Ohashi three-point play with 14:41 to go gave BSU a 62-43 advantage
- Wilson's triple pulled the 'Dogs back within 14 half a minute later
- Threes from Wilson and Nixon cut the lead to 11 with 11:27 to go
- Wilson buried back-to-back triples to make it 73-66 at the 10:32 mark
- A Malik Lacewell three put the Big Blue back on top by 10
- Massey's three-point play with 8:49 remaining cut the lead to five at 78-73
- Tidwell's jumper put Bluefield State back on top by 10
- Massey's layup cut the lead back to four, but a Landry Palata bucket at the 5:08 mark made it 87-79
- WU scored the next seven, cutting the lead to one on back-to-back Cottingham buckets
- Tidwell's triple with 34 seconds left made it 90-86
- Cottingham cut the lead back to two with a layup with 31 seconds remaining
- Tidwell and Hinds went four-for-four at the line the final 16 seconds to preserve the win

UP NEXT

- Wingate is back in action Wednesday, hosting Anderson at 7:30 p.m.