BOX SCORE POST GAME PRESS CONFERENCE
Hickory, N.C.----The third-seeded Wingate University Bulldogs erased a 13-point second half deficit Saturday afternoon, rallying for a 64-60 overtime victory over the second-seeded and 17th-ranked Railsplitters of Lincoln Memorial University in semifinal action of the 2012 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference tournament. The Bulldogs improve to 19-11 overall, advancing to the SAC championship game for the second straight year. LMU falls to 25-5 overall on the season.
Junior guard
Paidrick Matilus (Boynton Beach, Fla.) had 16 points, six rebounds and three steals to lead the Wingate attack. Junior forward
Odell Turner (Charlotte, N.C.) added 15 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks, while senior guard
Jaime Vaughn (Tallahassee, Fla.) had 10 points, five rebounds and three assists.
“Every time we’ve gotten behind the eight ball this year, we’ve found a way to fight back,” Wingate head coach
Brian Good says. “Every time it looked like we were out of it today, we were able to dig down and find a way to come back. I’m so proud of the effort from our team today.”
Junior guard
Wally Jones (Greensboro, N.C.) led the LMU Railsplitters with 14 points. Senior guard
Brandon Armstrong (Decatur, Ga.) added 12 points, while junior forward
Jake Troyli (Largo, Fla.) had 10 points and six rebounds.
Jumpers from Matilus and junior forward
Quan Alexander (Charlotte, N.C.) gave the ‘Dogs an early 12-6 lead. Wingate added buckets from Turner and sophomore forward
Deion Turman (Pittsburgh, Pa.) to give the Bulldogs their largest lead of the game at 20-13 with 5:25 remaining in the first half.
LMU had the emphatic answer, scoring the next 12 points to take a 25-20 lead. Junior forward
Dustin Craig (Knoxville, Tenn.) had back-to-back buckets late in the spurt, while Troyli capped the run with a jumper at the 1:38 mark. A Turner lay-up helped the Bulldogs cut the deficit to 25-23 at halftime.
The Bulldogs scored the first four points of the second half to take a 27-25 lead on a Matilus jumper. LMU regained the lead on buckets from Troyli and Jones. A lay-up from sophomore forward
Jeff Parker (Madison, N.C.) trimmed the deficit to one. The Railsplitters answered with 12-0 run to take a 44-31 lead with 9:56 to go. Jones knocked down a three in the flurry, while Craig finished things with a free throw.
The Bulldogs cut into the lead the remainder of regulation, finishing the half on a 22-9 run. Matilus and Kincaid had back-to-back steals and lay-ups to get the Bulldogs to within seven, while Vaughn hit two free throws to make the score 46-41 at the 6:24 mark. “We haven’t pressed much this year, but we needed it today…and it helped us come back,” Good says.
Vaughn added a free throw and a jumper to get Wingate to within three at the 2:18 mark. Matilus knocked down Wingate’s only three of the day with 1:21 remaining to tie the game at 53. The ‘Dogs got a defensive stop to get the ball with eight seconds remaining. Vaughn got a good look on a 15-foot jumper, but was unable to connect, sending the game to overtime.
Neither team would lead by more than four in the overtime. Turner answered an LMU bucket with a three-point play to put Wingate on top a minute into the extra frame. Jones hit a free throw on the next trip to give the Railsplitters their last lead of the game. A free throw and jumper from Matilus put Wingate on top by two at the 2:33 mark. A pair of Armstrong free throws tied the game for the final time with two minutes to go. Vaughn set up Turner for a lay-up on the other end to give Wingate the lead for good. Matilus hit a pair of free throws with 30 seconds left to push the lead to three. Kincaid rebounded an LMU miss on the other end and knocked down a free throw to put the game away.
The Bulldogs shot 42.9 percent from the field, while hitting all three of their shots in the overtime period. Wingate hit only one-of-13 from three-point range on the afternoon (7.7 percent). LMU shot 35.2 percent from the field, while hitting only one-of-four shots from the field in overtime. The Railsplitters hit only one-of-eight from beyond the arc (12.5 percent).
“We’re 2-0 in overtime this season for one reason,” Good says. “We haven’t let the other team score…and we allowed only one field goal in today’s overtime.” LMU held a slim 38-37 rebounding advantage on the day. Wingate converted 18 LMU turnovers into 23 points.
The Bulldogs will meet the top-seeded and 16th-ranked Trojans of Anderson University in Sunday’s championship game. That game will take place at 2 p.m. The Trojans defeated Newberry College 113-106 in double overtime Saturday, thanks to a tournament-record 50 points from SAC Player of the Year
Denzail Jones.
(Wingate University assistant sports information director
Hugh Patton wrote this article. Patton is a 2006 Wingate graduate with a B.A. degree in Communication Studies.)