BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Senior DQ Nicholas scored a game-high 17 points and dished out three assists to lead Gardner-Webb past Presbyterian 76-60 in men's basketball action Saturday afternoon inside Paul Porter Arena.

The victory is the Runnin' Bulldogs first conference win of the season and improves their record to 6-12 overall and 1-2 in league play. Presbyterian falls to 9-10 and 1-3.
 
The Runnin' Bulldogs, who shot 49.1 percent in the game, placed two other player in double figures, paced by junior Julian Soumaoro, who netted 15 points to go with four assists and a steal. Classmate Caleb Robinson scored 10 points and pulled down seven rebounds off the bench.   

"Credit the players who continue to have great leadership and belief in one another, especially through this tough stretch," said Gardner Webb head coach Tim Craft, whose team snapped a six-game losing skid. "They wouldn't allow themselves to focus on anything but trying to get better. They continued to try and do all the right things and they believe in one another. It was great to see that pay off today."

Craft was pleased by the effort of his entire squad, particularly on the defense end where the 'Dawgs forced 19 Presbyterian turnovers. In addition, the 11^th year Gardner-Webb head coach was particularly happy with the performance of Nicholas, who was a first team preseason All-Conference selection.

"It was a total team effort," said Craft. "Our defense set the tone in the first half forcing 12 turnovers which led to a lot of easy transition buckets. We also had 18 assists on the day, which shows that we're sharing the ball. I was really happy for DQ (Nicholas) because he's really had a rough go of it early on this year. He's a great player, so it was great to see him play today like the player we know he is."

Teel Samage scored 14 points and Marquis Barnett added 13 points and six rebounds for the Blue Hose, who shot 39.5 percent on the day.

The Runnin' Bulldogs led wire-to-wire as they shot 57.6% in the opening half and opened up a 25-point lead at the eight-minute mark. Gardner-Webb's biggest advantage of the afternoon was 27 points with 17:04 remaining in the second half.
 
Gardner-Webb, which hit 7-of-20 from deep, outscored Presbyterian 40-20 in the paint and converted 13 of 22 shots from the charity stripe.
 
The Blue Hose held a slight 32-30 advantage on the glass
 
Up Next
Gardner Webb will play its next game on the road Wednesday evening at Radford with a 7PM tip-off in the Dedmon Center.