WINGATE, N.C. – The Anderson men's basketball team nearly erased a seven-point deficit in the final 96 seconds, but wrapped up a two-game South Atlantic Conference road swing with a narrow, 78-75, setback to Wingate, Wednesday night at Cuddy Arena.
"I was proud of our toughness and grit down the stretch," said Anderson head coach Jimmie Williams. "It's hard to win without our point guard, leading scorer and starting center on the floor late. We will watch it and learn from it. Proud of Mason Carver. He led on both ends of the floor and kept us in it. We will continue to grow. Our identity still isn't set but we are getting closer. It would have been easy to fold tonight on the road. We outscored them by 10 in the second half. Shows the character of this team. Huge game Saturday at home in Abney against Lincoln Memorial! Excited to see our student section."
Anderson slipped to 4-11 overall and 1-4 in league play with its second consecutive loss, while Wingate (10-5, 5-1 SAC) claimed its fourth win in five decisions and has won eight of its last 10 outings.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Led by guard Jacksen Greco's 18 points, including 12 in the first half, The Trojans saw four players reach double-figure scoring for the ninth time this season. The sophomore from Canton, Ga, pulled down five rebounds and swiped a season-high five steals. Junior forward Mack Burgett, who connected on five of his last six field goal attempts, narrowly missed his third double-double of the season after netting 17 points and grabbing nine boards before fouling out with less than five minutes left in the game. He was 5-of-10 from the field and a career-best 7-of-7 from the free throw line.
Senior Mason Carver added a season-high 16 points – all in the second half - and equaled his career-best with nine rebounds. The guard from Lexington handed out three assists and was 5-of-8 from the field, including a career-high four 3-pointers. Sophomore guard Myles Jenkins tallied 12 points and five boards.
Wingate sophomore Destin Clark led all players with 22 points, while junior guard Donell Nixon II added 16 points. Junior guard Sean Elmore and teammate Josh Massey each netted 10 points apiece for the Bulldogs.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
The Trojans dug themselves out of an early hole after Wingate scored the first seven points of the game and falling behind, 9–3, inside the first three minutes of action.
Greco got the Trojans on the scoreboard with an old-fashioned three-point play at the 17:46 mark and following a Wingate basket, Garrett Denbow drained his lone 3-pointer of the night from the left wing to get the Trojans within three with a little more than 15 minutes left in the first half.
Wingate's Donnell Nixon countered with a trey before Burgett sparked a quick 5–0 run by the Trojans with a pair of free throws. Greco then added his second traditional three-point play of the night, and following a Jarren Cottingham 3-pointer, Greco dropped in a layup and Jenkins capped a 9-3 surge to knot the score at 15-15 with 11:19 on the clock.
Nearly three minutes later and with the score even at 17 apiece, the Bulldogs responded with a 12-2 run behind a barrage of 3-pointers and opened up a double-digit, 29–19, lead with less than four minutes left in the half.
The Trojans trimmed the deficit to single digits three times, but still trailed 39-26 at the break.
Second Half
The Trojans scored the first five points of the second half to cut the Bulldogs' lead to eight (39-31) inside the first three minutes and then closed within four, at 41-37, behind six straight points from Burgett that forced a Wingate timeout.
AU stayed within striking distance and got as close as three on four occasions before Wingate staked a 71-64 lead with just 1:36 on the clock. But Carver's fourth 3-pointer of the night pulled the Black and Gold within four and following a pair of free throws from Clark, Greco's third old-fashioned three-point play of the night pulled AU back within three (73-70).
After Elmore missed the first of two from the charity stripe, freshman guard Luke Denbow nailed a trey from deep on the left wing to close the gap to just 74-73 with 7.6 seconds on the clock.
Nixon then stepped to the line and connected on a pair of free throws to boost Wingate's advantage to three and the Bulldogs then muscled Carver before he could get close enough to launch a potential game-tying 3-pointer. He made both free throws with 4.0 seconds left and Nixon set the final score with another two from the charity stripe.
ANDERSON STAT OF THE NIGHT
The Trojans connected on their first 12 free throws of the opening half and finished the first half by going 13-of-14 (92.9%) from the charity stripe. They finished the night with a season-high 84.4% accuracy (27-of-32).
NOTABLES
• The Trojans nearly dominated the rebounding battle by out-rebounding the Bulldogs, 45-32, and pulled down a dozen offensive boards.
• The Bulldogs have won six straight past the Trojans.
• Wingate holds a 24-9 edge in the all-time series.
• Wingate is 5-1 at Cuddy Arena this season.
• The game featured a pair of ties, but the Trojans never led.
• AU saw four players in double figures for the ninth time this season.
• The game marked the first of two matchups this season at Cuddy Arena.
• The game featured eight of the top-28 most prolific scorers in the conference.
• In mid-December AU and Wingate combined to shoot 53 free throws at the Abney Center - which was the second-most total for the Trojans this season ... The two teams were whistled for a combined 48 fouls last month, with three Trojans fouling out. Tonight's contest featured 45 personal fouls, 57 combined free throw attempts and three Trojans again fouling out.
UP NEXT
The Trojans will return to the Abney Athletic Center, Saturday, for their first home game in four weeks, as they play host to No. 5 Lincoln Memorial in the first contest of a two-game SAC homestand. Tip-off against the Railsplitters is slated for 4 p.m.
