WINGATE, N.C. — The Catawba College men's basketball team came out blazing and never burned out, claiming its fifth straight and 10th overall win of the year by defeating Wingate, 81-69, on Wednesday evening at Cuddy Arena.
TEAM STATS
- The Catawba Indians (10-3, 5-2 SAC) made exactly 30 field goals for the third consecutive game, going 46.9% from the field in comparison to Wingate's (7-6, 2-5 SAC) 38.7% tally
- Efficiency from three-point land slightly favored Catawba, whose 37.5% clip bested the 29.2% average by the Bulldogs
- The blue and white shot 78.9%, a slightly-above-average value this season, while Wingate hit 87.5% of its opportunities to mark the best rate by a Catawba opponent
- Catawba out-rebounded the 'Dogs 42-31, the squad's eighth double-digit margin on the boards; on Catawba Indian misses, the visitors boxed out Wingate 17-15
- A combined 15 turnovers marks the fewest in a Catawba game since Jan. 26, 2022, as the 'Dogs coughed up possession eight times against the Catawba Indians' seven
INDIVIDUAL STATS
- Ibra Athie led the squad in scoring with a season-best 17 points, drilling his lone three-point try and going 4-for-4 at the charity stripe
- Jordan Simpson poured in 15 points, largely from a 6-for-7 ledger on two-pointers, with four assists and his first block of the year
- Nick Walker and Justin Banks posted double-doubles with 12 points apiece and 11 and 10 rebounds, respectively; Banks' three blocks lifted his season total to 34, good for second in the SAC
- Carson Daniel chipped in eight points with five assists as well as his fourth block of the season and career
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
- Catawba dispatched an immediate blitz with Banks scoring the contest's first eight points as Walker followed with a steal and slam, pushing the Catawba Indians ahead 10-0 with 2:14 elapsed
- The 'Dogs fired back with a seven-point punch that helped them squeeze the gap to five at the under-12 media timeout
- Athie and Jashaun Hawkins drained back-to-back three-pointers in an effort to restore the visitors' double-figure lead midway through the stanza
- Five buckets, each by a different Catawba Indian, fueled a late 12-2 run which kept Catawba comfortably in front at the break with a 15-point lead; WU's Corbin Pack swished a last-second triple
Second Half
- The foes traded buckets to open the second period, but Wingate failed to reduce the deficit for the first six minutes; instead, a four-point spurt by Athie saw Catawba bump the margin to 19
- From that point, however, WU triggered a 16-3 rally with Pack accounting for eight points as Jordan Miller and Kendall Campbell tallied four apiece, cutting the Catawba advantage down to 58-52
- A mixture of solid shooting in the post and at the free-throw line allowed the Catawba Indians to regain their double-digit cushion
- Campbell and Pack filled the cup from long range in the final minutes, but Catawba resisted the surge and came away with the 81-69 result; Simpson's late three-ball dagger bumped the lead to 12, giving Catawba its ninth win by double digits
UP NEXT
Catawba returns home to Goodman Arena on Saturday, Jan. 10, for a 4 p.m. bout with UVA Wise.
