FINAL STATS
(LAWRENCEVILLE, VA) It wasn't as easy as the first time these teams met (12/15/07), but Bowie State still came away with a 75-67 road win against the Tigers of St. Paul's College. The win moves Bowie State's record to 18-7 on the year, 12-5 in the CIAA and 4-3 in the Eastern Division.
St. Paul's (7-14 / 3-13 CIAA / 0-6 East) took an early 7-3 advantage and extended that lead to 14-7 by the 13:40 mark, forcing Bowie State to call its first time out. Bowie State ran off five straight points to cut the deficit to 14-12 before SPC's Adrian Moffat hit a 3-pointer to stop the run. A pair of free throws by BSU sophomore Christian Jackson trimmed the score 17-16. The Tigers went on a 7-0 run to push the St. Paul's lead to 24-16 with 9:30 left in the half. The Bulldogs put together another 5-0 run but the Tigers responded with a little run of their own (4-0) to keep Bowie State at bay. Jason Ingram gave Bowie State their first lead at the 2:57 mark and junior Curtis Massey followed that with 3-pointer, giving the visitors a 34-30 lead. Anthony Winn and Moffatt (13 points) scored back-to-back field goals to tie the game at 34 and sent both teams into halftime all knotted up. Both teams were statistically even over the first 20 minutes. However, the St. Paul's bench outscored Bowie State's bench 9-0, holding the Bulldogs scoreless over the final 2:36. Turnovers were plentiful in the first half as St. Paul's and Bowie State committed 12 and 10 respectively.
St. Paul's led early in the second half until senior David Paris converted the traditional 3-point play to shift the advantage back to Bowie State at 50-49. Ingram's tip and Massey's third field goal of the game gave Bowie State a 54-49 lead with 12:33 remaining. BSU senior Orlando Wright gave the Bulldogs a six point cushion (62-56) at the 8:20 mark, sticking second triple of the afternoon. George Leseur made an acrobatic jumper in the paint to shift the lead back over to St. Paul's (63-62) but BSU's Paris made one-of-two free throws to tie the game at 63-63. Massey made his second three of the contest with 4:31 left to play and Bowie State would never trail again.
Bowie State's Ingram scored a game-high 23 points and added seven rebounds. Massey and Paris recorded 15 and 13 points respectively for BSU's Bulldogs. Paris also led both teams with nine rebounds. Senior Carlos Williams dished out a game-high eight assists.
The St. Paul's Tigers were led by Bruce Royal with 20 points and Maurice Reevey netted 16 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
Bowie State's Bulldogs will close out the conference portion of their schedule – Tuesday (2/19), hosting the Vikings of Elizabeth City State at 7:30 p.m. Prior to tip-off, Bowie State will hold Senior Night presentations for 18 student-athletes which include nine members of the Bulldogs basketball team.
