HICKORY, N.C. – Lenoir-Rhyne outlasted Wingate by five points in their home opener on Tuesday night inside Shuford Gym. The game was the conference opener for both squads who wont meet again until Jan. 19. 

GAME INFORMATION:
Final: Lenoir-Rhyne 75, Wingate 70
Records: Lenoir-Rhyne (2-1, 1-0 SAC) | Wingate (2-1, 0-1 SAC)
Location: Shuford Gym

STATS AND INFO:
- Lenoir-Rhyne owns a 55-39 advantage in the all-time series
- This is the second straight win over Wingate in the Shu
- The Bears are 25-11 in the SAC era against Wingate at home
- 12 different players saw action for the Bears

FIRST HALF:
- The Bears scored the first 12 points of the game and held Wingate scoreless for the first 4:48
- LR's largest lead was 14 at 32-18 at the 7:55 mark of the first half
- LR would take a 46-34 lead into the break with the Bears going 19-for-33 from the floor
- Wingate had just one assist on eight made baskets in the opening 20 minutes
- The Bears forced Wingate into 13 turnovers and turned those into 21 points on the other end

SECOND HALF:
- Sean Elmore hit back-to-back 3-pointers with under six minutes to play to cut LR's lead to just 65-63 with 4:36 to go
- LR went cold late in the half, hitting just 1-of-11 from deep and going scoreless for a four-minute stretch from the 6:37 mark to 2:29. Jalen Johnson ended the drought with a pair of free throws to push the Bears lead to four
- A huge Kangu triple with 54 seconds to play gave LR a 72-68 advantage
- The Bulldogs cut it to two but Tyson McClain buried a triple with nine seconds to go to seal the game
- LR shot just 38.5 percent in the second half and 26.7 percent from long range

ABOUT THE BEARS:
- Kangu had 20 points to lead the Bears in scoring for the first time this season
- Johnson finished with 16 points and four assists
- Fowler scored 10 points and Nas Tyson grabbed a team-high eight boards
- LR only turned the ball over 10 times and forced 19 giveaways

NOTABLE BULLDOGS:
- Jarren Cottingham scored 24 points but went 6-for-17 from the field and scored nine of his points at the free throw line
- Elmore scored 16 points and went 4-of-7 from long range
- Vontez Roberts scored 13 points and went 7-of-8 from the free-throw line

UP NEXT: The Bears will play Lees-McRae in non-conference action on Saturday at 2 p.m.