Friday, March 2, 2001
#3 SEED BLUE HOSE KNOCK OFF #2 SEED WINGATE 61-60 TO
ADVANCE TO THE SAC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
HICKORY, NC – Presbyterian College sophomore
center Rod Isom (Anderson,
SC) scored a career-high 19 points to lead the #3 seed Blue
Hose past #2 seed Wingate University in semifinal action of
the Food Lion/South Atlantic Conference Tournament held in at
the Catawba Valley Community Center tonight.
The win sends the Blue Hose to the SAC Championship game
versus top-seed Catawba College tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 pm.
Presbyterian opened the game with a 28-11 run, hitting
their first ten field goals of the game. The Blue Hose
continued their hot shooting throughout the first half and
held a 36-25 lead entering intermission. PC shot 68.2% from
the field in the first session while holding the Bulldogs to
10-of-30 shooting from the field, for 33.3%.
The Bulldogs fought back to open the second half and cut
the lead to 46-42 with 12:34 remaining. PC responded with a
5-0 run to push the back to nine points at 51-42 with 11:25
remaining. The game went back and forth for next three minutes
as the Bulldogs cut the lead to 53-51 with 6:56 left in the
game.
Wingate continued to whittle down the Blue Hose lead and
took their first lead of the game at 58-57 with 4:11
remaining. PC’s Isom put the Blue Hose back in the lead for
good at the on a pair of free throws with 3:36 remaining. Isom
added a field goal at the 2:45 remaining to push the lead to
61-58. Wingate cut the lead to one point at 61-60 with :57
seconds remaining on a layup by senior forward Trey Raley.
The Bulldogs fell short in the final seconds of retaking the
lead as the Blue Hose prevail to advance to the SAC Tournament
Finals.
PC was led by Isom’s career-high 19 points while
sophomore All-SAC performer guard Chuck
Rayford added 13 points.
Wingate was led by sophomore All-SAC performer Djuan
Hankins who tallied 20 points while senior All-SAC
performer forward Jonathan Tyson added 14 points.
Senior guard Lorinza Harrington rounded the double
figure scorers with 12 points.
PC improves to 19-9 on the season and will play top-seed
Catawba College in the finals tomorrow with an automatic bid
the NCAA Division II South Atlantic Regional next weekend.
Wingate drops to 24-4 on the season and will await word on
Sunday on their future in the NCAA Tournament.
PRESBYTERIAN (19-9)- Isom 7-9 5-8 19, Whittle 3-6 1-2 9,
Humphries 2-4 1-2 5, Campbell 1-4 0-0 3, Rayford 4-11 2-6 13,
Scully 1-1 0-0 1, Stamps 1-2 0-0 1, Touchberry 1-2 0-0 1,
Dellinger 0-2 0-0 0, Davis 3-3 0-0 6. Team 23-44 9-17 61
WINGATE (24-4) – Bah 0-1 0-0 0, Tyson 6-13 1-2 14,
Harrington 5-7 1-3 12, Dunn 2-7 0-0 5, Hankins 7-14 1-2 20,
Miller 0-3 1-2 1, Vandergrift 0-0 0-0 0, Raley 1-3 4-4 6,
Daise 0-2 0-0 0, West 0-1 0-0 0, Thompson 0-4 2-2 2. Team
21-55 10-15 60.
Halftime: PC 36, Wingate 25. Three-point field goals – PC
6-15 (Whittle 2-4, Campbell 1-4, Rayford 3-5, Touchberry 0-1).
Wingate 8-19 (Hankins 5-9, Tyson 1-3, Harrington 1-1, Dunn
1-3, Miller 0-2, Daise 0-1) Total Rebounds – PC 36 (Isom 8),
Wingate 27 (Tyson, Hankins 5). Personal Fouls- PC 15, Wingate
19. Fouled Out- none. Techinal Fouls- none. Assists – PC (Rayford
4), Wingate 12 (Hankins 4). Turnovers – PC 18, Wingate 12.
Steals- PC 5, Wingate 6. Attendance: 568.
PRESBYTERIAN
COLLEGE HEAD COACH GREGG NIBERT
“Rod (Isom) had a great game, when we beat them at PC,
this guy got an award for the best field goal percentage.
I’m not smart guy, but I know we needed to get him the ball.
We played with a lot of guts and toughness. Defense was the
key to the game. We have got to come out and play defense. It
was a clinic on defense tonight. We showed a lot of composure,
Kevin Campbell played his heart out tonight.”
WINGATE UNIVERSITY HEAD COACH PARKER LAKETA
“PC did an outstanding job, they have good players that
play their heart out. We struggled from the interior. We
couldn’t get it (the basket). We relied completely on
perimeter shooting which hurt us. The hit their first 10 shot
of the game, mostly from inside. Their inside people were
better than our inside people. The second half we decided to
play some defense, and we dictated the pace of the game. We
were able to dominate them like they did us in the first half.
We played well enough to win, we got two good looks at the
end. Trey (Raley) had a good chance on the offensive rebound.
I hope that we go to the postseason. What we did was leave it
up to a group of guys in a room, we are at their mercy.”