WINGATE, N.C. - With four players in double figures, Wingate defeated the Anderson men's basketball team, 80-69, in the Trojans' season finale, Saturday afternoon at Cuddy Arena.
Anderson's season came to a close with a 7-21 overall record, including a 5-17 mark in the conference, while Wingate (20-8, 16-6 SAC) will enter next week's SAC Tournament as the third seed and will face No. 6 seeded Carson-Newman on Wednesday at 8 p.m. after winning its fourth decision in five outings.
Freshman guard Randall Shaw led the Trojans with 20 points, while junior center Rakish Taylor narrowly missed his eighth double-double of the season by netting 13 points and pulling down nine rebounds. Sophomore guard Maurice Howard added eight points and shared game-high honors by dishing out four assists.
The Bulldogs scored the first basket of the game and while the contest was tied at 3-3 less than a minute into the game, Wingate pushed out to a 19-8 advantage with just less than 13 minutes left in the opening half and never trailed.
The Trojans trimmed the deficit to just 33-27 at the 3:35 mark of the opening half, but Wingate opened a 39-27 lead with 1:01 on the clock and took a nine-point advantage to the break. The Bulldogs held a double-digit lead for most of the second frame, until Shaw's fourth 3-pointer of the afternoon again pulled the Trojans within two possessions with 3:30 remaining.
But the Bulldogs countered with back-to-back treys and AU would get no closer than 78-69 with 45 seconds on the clock.
