Men's Basketball Falls to Hot-Shooting Wingate

SALISBURY, NC -- Wingate got 24 points from Jaime Vaughn (Tallahassee, FL) and cruised to a 93-71 victory over host Catawba in South Atlantic Conference men’s basketball action on Wednesday night at Goodman Gym.  The Bulldogs improve to 11-10 overall and 7-4 in the SAC, while the Catawba Indians fall to 5-14 and 2-9.

Wingate gave up the opening basket to the Indians then took the lead on Paidrick Matilus’ (Boynton Beach, FL) three-pointer at the 19:00 mark the Bulldogs never trailed again.  Consecutive three-pointers by Keon Moore (Colerain, NC/Bertie HS) helped Catawba cut a 20-12 deficit to 20-18 midway through the second half, but it was all Bulldogs after that.

Vaughn capped an 11-0 run by Wingate on a pair of free throws to push the margin to 35-21 and Chase Smith’s (Upper Marlboro, MD) three-pointer gave the Bulldogs their biggest lead of the half at 38-23 with 4:28 to go.  Catawba closed the gap to nine before Wingate took a 42-32 edge at the break.

Vaughn had four points to start the second half for Wingate and Matilus added another three-pointer as the Bulldogs went up 49-35.  The lead swelled to 21 at 69-48 following a three-pointer by Eddie Lewis (Rocky Point, NC) and Vaughn pushed the margin to 30, at 78-48, on a three-pointer with 8:09 remaining.  Wingate built its largest margin of 36 points at 87-51 with 5:11 left.

Vaughn canned 8-of-15 shots for the red-hot Bulldogs that made 61% (33-of-54) on the night.  Vaughn also handed out five assists.  Smith followed with 13 points, while Odell Turner (Charlotte, NC) had 11 points and seven boards.   Mike Tyson (Kinston, NC) came off the bench to round out the double-digit scorers for Wingate with 10.

Moore led all scorers with 27 points in a losing effort for the Indians.  He hit on 8-of-17 from the field, including 4-of-6 from long range.  Tyrece Little (Greenville, NC/Rose HS) followed with 14 points and eight rebounds.  Catawba shot 43% for the game.

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