Third straight victory puts Eagles in top half of standings

RALEIGH, NC – Wake Tech Men's Basketball improved to 13-12  on the season and 5-4 in conference play after a 56-53 win over Gaston on Wednesday. It's the team's third straight win. 

"We're basically in the home stretch, so these games are very important," head coach Adam Wainwright said. "Our goal is to continue stacking wins and secure a good seed for the tournament. Once you get to March, anything can happen."

The Eagles led 35-23 at halftime, but Gaston came out firing in the second half. The Rhinos went on a 20-2 run, and had a 43-37 lead with under 13 minutes to play. 

"That's not how we wanted to start the half," Wainwright said, "but I'm proud of the way our guys fought. A lot of teams would fold in that situation, but our group is resilient. They stayed locked in defensively and made the shots when it counted."

It took the Eagles over six minutes to regain their lead. Freshman forward Jaylen Miller taking on two defenders in the post before scoring to make it 53-51 with 6:20 remaining. Scoring was hard to come by after that, but the game came down to the final possession with Wake Tech up 56-53 and Gaston with the ball. The Rhinos had three chances at the end of regulation to force overtime, but could not capitalize on any of their attempts from deep. 

Wednesday's win moved Wake Tech back into the top half of the Region 10 DI standings, where they are tied for third with Cape Fear, although Cape Fear holds the tiebreaker between the two teams. The Eagles are only 1.5 games behind the league leaders Brunswick, with two matchups against the Dolphins looming. 

The Eagles are back at home on Saturday, February 15,  and will face USC Salkehatchie, wrapping up a four-game homestand. Tip off is scheduled for 3:00 pm. It's the last chance to see the team at home until their final regular season game on Wednesday, March 5 against Brunswick.