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Saturday, March 3, 2007
Wingate Beats Presbyterian, Advances to
Food Lion SAC Men's Basketball Title Game
HICKORY, N.C. - Wingate
University followed Sean Barnette's 23-point effort to advance to the
finals of the 2007 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Men's Basketball
Tournament with a 73-64 victory over Presbyterian College at Catawba
Valley Community College Saturday night.
Fourth-seeded Wingate (21-8) held off a
second-half Presbyterian rally, and had three players in double figures.
Behind Barnett's 23, Justin Baker and Kenny Villines each scored 10
points.
Presbyterian's Sean Dixon scored 16
points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the second-seeded Blue Hose,
who exit the tournament with a record of 20-9.Senior Grant Herren scored
15 points to reach the 1,000-point mark for his career at PC.
The Blue Hose took a 35-34 lead into the
halftime break, having led by as many as seven in the opening stanza.
However, the Bulldogs took the lead for
good on the opening possession of the second half on a dunk by Bryan
Grier.
After the two sides traded buckets,
Wingate went on a 12-2 surge, with Justin Baker's layup giving the
Bulldogs a 52-41 lead with 13:33 to play.
Presbyterian later rallied with a run of its own, outscoring Wingate
10-3 over a 4:18 span. Herren's layup with 8:18 to play narrowed the
margin to 55-52.
The Blue Hose later cut the deficit to
one point on a Bryan Bostic three-point play with 4:53 to play.
Wingate buckets from Barnette, Bill
Smith and Baker surrounded missed Blue Hose three-pointers to give the
Bulldogs a seven-point advantage under a minute to play.
Presbyterian was forced to attempt to
foul their way back into the game, but the Bulldogs connected on 6-of-6
attempts in the final 33 seconds from the charity stripe to punch their
ticket to Sunday afternoon's final.
Wingate will face the top-seeded Catawba
Indians in the tournament finals on Sunday. Tipoff at the Catawba Valley
Community College Arena is slated for 4 p.m.
Box Score
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