Hard work apparently paid off for the Lenoir-Rhyne University men.
The rededicated Bears won 75-71 Wednesday night over Wingate, which was alone in third place in South Atlantic Conference men’s basketball.
LRU (6-8, 2-3) won its second straight since holding a team meeting after losing its third conference game.
“One of the things we talked about is why can’t we all play hard every day in practice,” John Lentz, the Bears’ head coach, said. “The other thing we agreed on was that we were playing too many people, so we shortened the rotation.”
LRU’s starters each logged at least 27 minutes and three forwards combined for almost two-thirds of the Bears’ points.
Allan Jones led LRU with 20 points in 27 minutes, D.J. Blackmon scored 18 and B.J. Beasley made all four of his field goal attempts and 3-of-4 free throws for 11 points.
“What we tried to do offensively was make three, four or five passes and then throw it inside and make them defend us in there,” Lentz said.
Blackmon, a 2010 All-SAC selection, was playing his seventh game since being sidelined for more than a year because of a knee injury. He scored 14 points in the second half and led LRU in rebounds with seven and in assists with five.
“He’s starting to feel his way,” Lentz said. “You don’t come back and have it be the way it was right away. He’s learning new people and what they do.”
Wingate (7-8, 3-2) took a 4-0 lead, then LRU scored 10 straight points and never trailed again. The Bears held their largest lead at 51-38 after Jones scored on a breakaway layup with 15 minutes, nine seconds left to play.
Wingate cut it to 66-65 when Paidrick Matilus hit a 3-point shot with 3:29 to play, and the Bulldogs were within 73-71 after a jumper by Jaime Vaughn 28 seconds left.
The Bears lost a turnover, only their eighth of the game, with 20.9 seconds to go, but a shot by Wingate’s Eddie Lewis from the left corner rattled out in the closing seconds. LRU’s Kevin Davis rebounded and passed to Blackmon for a layup at the buzzer.
The Bears played without leading scorer Denzel Dillingham. Lentz said Dillingham’s eligibility is in question because of a correspondence course he took. Starting point guard A.J. McKenzie, was out due to an ankle injury.
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