Men's Basketball Hosts Winston-Salem State Monday In Home Opener
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG men's basketball team opens the home portion of the 2012-13 season Monday night as the Spartans host nationally-ranked NCAA Division II member Winston-Salem State at 7 p.m. at the Greensboro Coliseum. The game will be radio broadcast on 1320 WCOG AM and will be video streamed online for free at www.uncgspartans.com.
The UNCG athletics department is trying to set an attendance record for a home opener which was set in the 2009-10 home opener against Clemson (5,672), while also looking to eclipse the student attendance record of 2,400. Additionally, the UNCG athletics department is offering free tickets to current military members and veterans of the armed forces free tickets to the game in honor of Veterans Day by contacting the UNCG ticket office before noon Monday at 336-334-3250.
The Spartans enter the home opener with n 0-1 record after suffering an 81-73 loss at High Point Friday. UNCG rallied from a 19-point second half deficit and cut the lead to two points late in the game but could not complete the rally. Junior Trevis Simpson led the Spartans with a team-high 18 points as he shook off a slow start to score 14 points in the final 4:04 of the game.
Freshman forward Kayel Locke (Owings Mill, Md./McDonogh) ignited the Spartans second-half rally as he scored 17 points off the bench, including 15 in the second half in his regular season debut. Locke connected on 7-of-12 from the field, while hitting his first career three-pointer during a stretch scoring nine of 11 points for UNCG. His 17 point effort in his freshman-debut is the most for a UNCG true freshman in their first game since former UNCG great Kyle Hines poured in 24 points against Montreat Nov. 19, 2004.
Senior guard Derrell Armstrong (Mechanicsville, Md./Allegany CC) came off the bench and added 10 points in the loss. Junior David Williams (Jacksonville, Fla./First Coast) chipped in six points and seven rebounds before fouling out for the Spartans.
Monday's game marks the 46th home-opener for the Spartans since their inaugural season in 1967-68. UNCG is 30-15 in home openers in program history, including a 71-58 victory last season over UNCG Pembroke. The game will also be the second all-time meeting between the Spartans and Winston-Salem State. UNCG owns the lone victory in the series, posting a 67-65 win at WSSU Nov. 25, 1989.
Winston-Salem State enters the game ranked No. 15 in the NCAA Division II national poll and was picked to win the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) South Division in the preseason poll. The Rams will be opening the regular season Monday night but played one exhibition game this year with a 69-45 loss at ACC foe Duke.
Winston-Salem State's Wykevin Bazemore paced the Rams in the loss to the Blue Devils scoring 11 points but grabbing a game-high 17 rebounds. Bazemore, a preseason All-CIAA selection, averaged 10.5 points and a league-best 8.3 rebounds per game last season. Senior guard Justin Glover is the Rams' top scorer from last season when he averaged 15.2 points per game. Glover led WSSU with 47 three-pointers while also taking a team-high 155 free throws.
Senior point guard Marcus Wells rounds out the three members of the All-CIAA preseason team for the Rams has he averaged 6.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.2 rebounds per game last year.
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