Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Barnette's 16 Second Half Points
Help Wingate Pull Away From PC

WINGATE, N.C. – Wingate’s Sean Barnette poured in 16
second half points and the Bulldogs defeated
Presbyterian College 84-70 in South Atlantic
Conference men’s basketball action on Wednesday
evening at Cuddy Arena.

A native of Rock Hill, S.C., Barnette, the leading
scorer in the SAC at 20.l points-per-game, finished
his evening with 21 points. Barnette was a perfect
6-for-6 from the charity stripe.

One of the top shot-blocking teams in the nation,
Wingate recorded a team total of eight blocks in its
victory. The leading shot blocker in the SAC,
Wingate’s Bryan Grier swatted three of the eight.

PC was led in the loss by forward Grant Herren
(Oviedo, Fla.), who concluded his efforts on the night
with a career-high 19 points.

Coming off the bench in the contest for the first time
all season in the first half, Herren responded to head
coach Gregg Nibert placing him back in the starting
five in the second half by scoring 17 points.

The Blue Hose began the evening by scoring six points
in the early going off a variety of Wingate miscues to
take an early nine-point lead at 20-11 with just under
seven minutes gone in the first half. Over one-fourth
of PC’s 20 points in the seven minutes came via Pat
Kiscaden (Oviedo, Fla.), who came off the Blue Hose
bench in the inaugural minutes of the game to nail two
three-pointers.

Presbyterian then went on a short 4-2 run to take a
11-point lead at 24-13, forcing Wingate head coach
Parker Laketa to take a time out with 11:25 left in
the first stanza.

The Bulldogs scored four unanswered points in the next
minute-plus to cut the Blue Hose lead to seven at
24-17 when the first media time out was taken at the
9:59 mark of the first half.

Wingate eventually took the lead from the Blue Hose at
32-31 with just over six minutes to go in the first
half after outscoring PC 15-7 after the first half
media timeout.

Led by Justin Baker’s four three-pointers and Bryan
Grier’s two emphatic dunks the Bulldogs went into
halftime with a five point advantage at 39-34.

Wingate commenced the second half by jumping to their
largest lead of the game up to that point at 49-41
with 16 minutes left to play in the contest.

The Blue Hose cut the lead to one shortly thereafter
at 53-52, but Wingate behind reigning SAC Player of
the Week Barnette’s three-pointer and fast break layup
pulled back ahead by six at 58-52.

Over the next few minutes the Bulldogs would begin to
slowly pull away from the Blue Hose, leading by the
final margin of 14 for the majority of the final
minutes.

The Blue Hose fall to an even 3-3 in league play and
10-7 with the loss, while Wingate improves to 11-4 and
4-1 in SAC action with the victory.

Presbyterian travels to Jefferson City, Tenn. this
Saturday to square off against Carson-Newman. Tip-off
between the Eagles and the Blue Hose is slated for 8
p.m.

Box Score

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