Brevard, N.C. – The Brevard College men’s basketball team used a big second half against Wingate University on Saturday afternoon, to battle back into the game before falling to the pre-season SAC favorites, 87-77 at Boshamer Gymnasium.

 

The entire 40 minutes of play was a game of runs, as Wingate jumped out to an early 4-0 lead on the Tornados and never trailed for the remainder of the game, holding off the Tornados down the stretch to seal the 10 point win.

 

The Tornados fell behind 4-0 before a lay-up by guard Cody Siniard got BC on the board, cutting Wingate’s lead in half at 4-2.

 

Over the next four minutes of play, the Tornados got to as close as three points on three separate occasions before the Bulldogs went on a 9-0 run to push the lead to 12 at 21-9 with 12:09 to go in the first half.

 

The Tornados battled back to cut the lead to five, at 27-22, as forward Joseph Chilton hit a three-pointer from the top of the key at the 8:28 mark.

 

Yet Wingate made another run to close out the last eight minutes of the half, outscoring BC 21-11 in the closing minutes to take a 48-33 lead into the halftime break.

 

While the Tornados shot 41.7 percent from behind the three-point arc in the first half, connecting on 5-of-12, the Bulldogs went 6-of-10 from long distance and shot 52.8 percent from the floor overall to help them hold of BC and maintain their lead in the first 20 minutes of play.

 

After a lay-up by Siniard started off the second half, the Tornados again started off slow, falling behind 61-39 with 16:44 to go in the game.

 

Yet Coach Jones’ squad did not go away, as they continued to hang around with the Bulldogs cutting the lead to as low as 10 on a number of occasions over the next 14 minutes of play.

 

The Tornados finally cut the Wingate lead to single digits with 1:56 remaining in the game, as two made free throws by sophomore Jonathan Whitson cut the lead to eight points at 81-73.

 

After two missed free throws by Wingate on the next possession, the Tornados Whitson came through again, this time hitting a lay-up down low to cut the lead to six with 1:29 to play.

 

However, that was as close as Brevard would get, as Wingate’s seniors and pre-season all-conference performers Sean Barnette and Bryan Grier scored the final six points down the stretch for the Bulldogs to seal the 87-77 win.

 

Leading the way for Brevard was sophomore Jonathan Whitson’s game-high 29 points and 15 rebounds, his fifth double-double on the season. Forward Joseph Chilton had 14 points, while fellow junior Sean Ferretti had a season-high 12 points on the game. Sophomore guard Cody Siniard had his first double-double of the season, scoring 11 points to go along with his season-high 14 assists.

 

Wingate was lead by guard Sam Holmes who had a team-high 20 points, knocking down four three-pointers for the game. Forward Bryan Grier had a double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while also rejecting eight BC shot attempts for the game. Sean Barnette added 12 points, while both DeMario Mattox and David Johnson had 10 points apiece.

 

The Tornados will next be on the road at Jefferson City, T.N., where they will play the Eagles of Carson-Newman College on Wednesday, February 20. The tip-off is slated for 8 p.m.

 

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