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.

-SAC-

Quotes from Wingate head coach Parker Laketa:
I thought we defended well. We tried to do some things to disrupt them. We frustrated the sufficiently with our switching.

We were a big part of them shooting 40 percent.

On championship game opponent Catawba-
Catawba's a tough team. They're [regular season] champions for a reason. They have skilled athletes at every position, and bring in skilled athletes off the bench. It should be a great game. These are the meaningful games in March you want your guys to play in.

Quotes from Presbyterian head coach Gregg Nibert:
Our guys responded and came back. That took a lot out of us. Sean Barnette proved why he was the player of the league. I'm proud of all of our guys for the way they battled back.

This is one of my most favorite teams. The five seniors showed a lot of leadership all year.

Newspaper Box Score (Final)
At Hickory, N.C. (CVCC
WINGATE 73, PRESBYTERIAN 64
WINGATE
Barnette, Sean 7-9 8-11 23; Baker, Justin 3-11 4-4 10; Villines, Kenny 4-4
2-2 10; Kirkland, Shaun 3-6 2-2 8; Grier, Bryan 2-4 2-6 6; Staley, Larry 3-6
0-0 6; Smith, Bill 2-4 0-0 5; Holmes, Sam 2-4 0-0 5. Totals 26-48 18-25 73.
PRESBYTERIAN
Sean Dixon 5-13 4-7 16; Grant Herren 7-17 1-2 15; Bryan Bostic 5-10 2-3 14;
Pat Kiscaden 3-6 0-0 8; Quinton Ferrell 2-2 1-3 5; Martynas Versinskas 2-5
0-0 4; Travis Sligh 0-2 0-0 0; Drew Biggs 0-5 0-0 0. Totals 24-60 10-17 64.
Wingate............. 34 39 - 73
Presbyterian........ 35 29 - 64
3-point goals-Wingate 3-11 (Holmes, Sam 1-2; Barnette, Sean 1-2; Smith,
Bill 1-3; Staley, Larry 0-1; Baker, Justin 0-3), Presbyterian 6-21
(Pat Kiscaden 2-5; Sean Dixon 2-7; Bryan Bostic 2-5; Drew Biggs 0-4).
Fouled out-Presbyterian-Drew Biggs. Rebounds-Wingate 35 (Barnette, Sean 9),
Presbyterian 29 (Sean Dixon 9). Assists-Wingate 13
(Smith, Bill 5), Presbyterian 13 (Sean Dixon 5). Total fouls-Wingate 17,
Presbyterian 22.