Men's Basketball stifles Wingate, punches ticket to SAC Tournament title game

Salisbury, N.C. —-- The Catawba College men's basketball team held Wingate to 38 percent shooting from the floor to punch its ticket to the South Atlantic Conference Men's Basketball Championship Game and likely a spot in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night, defeating the Bulldogs 80-62 at the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center.

TEAM STATS

- Catawba shot 34-for-74 (46 percent) from the floor, while holding Wingate to 20-of-53 (38 percent) from the field

- The Catawba Indians were 5-for-15 (33 percent) from three-point range; the Bulldogs were 2-of-14 (14 percent) from deep

- WU was 20-for-29 (69 percent) from the free throw line, while Catawba struggled to a 7-for-13 (54 percent) mark from the charity stripe

- Catawba out-rebounded Wingate 43-41, but the Bulldogs held a slim 15-13 edge in second-chance points

- The Catawba Indians recorded 13 assists to 12 turnovers, while WU had nine assists to 21 turnovers; Catawba held a 23-7 lead in points off turnovers

- Catawba held advantages in points in the paint (50-32), fastbreak points (10-7) and bench points (25-10) 

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

- Peyton Gerald scored a team-high 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting with six rebounds and four blocks

- O'Mazeon Tinsley chipped in 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting

- Kaleb Wallace added 11 points and nine rebounds off the bench

- DeAngelo Epps posted a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds with three assists and three steals

- Javeon Jones was the fifth Catawba Indian in double figures with 10 points and three steals

- Montraivis White dished out a team-high five assists in 22 minutes off the bench

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

- Tinsley and Jones recorded the game's first two baskets in the opening minute

- Catawba raced out to a 12-2 lead after Kris Robinson's layup forced a Wingate timeout

- Wingate responded with a pair of free throws and a basket to trim their deficit to four points

- Robinson buried back-to-back three-pointers and Shad Thomas' layup extended the Catawba advantage to 20-8

- Gerald's layup pushed the Catawba lead to 29-12 at the 8-minute mark

- The Bulldogs answered with a 6-0 run to get within 11 points

- White's layup kept the Bulldogs at an arm's distance – 36-21

- Wingate's Josh Massey connected on a three-pointer as Wingate continued to hang around

- Epps and Wallace both converted layups to take a 43-28 lead into the halftime locker room 

SECOND HALF

- Wingate's Vontrez Roberts personally scored the first four points of the second half

- Epps' jumper near the 16-minute mark returned the lead to 15 points

- The Bulldogs scored six unanswered points to cut their deficit all the way down to 53-45 with 13 minutes remaining

- The Catawba lead got to as low as six near the midway point of the half

- A Wallace layups and Epps free throws steered the Catawba lead back to 10

- Wallace's layup at the 5:03 mark made it a 10-2 Catawba Indian run to push the lead back to 14

- Catawba began to pull away with the clock on their side; Jones' layup with 37 seconds to go closed the scoring at 80-62

UP NEXT

- Catawba will play for its second consecutive South Atlantic Conference Tournament title on Friday, facing top-seed Lincoln Memorial at 7 p.m.