BOX SCORE

(ELIZABETH CITY, N.C.)  Bowie State junior Andrew Engel (Glen Burnie, MD, Old Mill, Colby C.C.) scored a team-high 17 points, all in the second half, but Bowie State suffers 65-60 loss to Elizabeth City State.

Bowie State began the night very slow as the Elizabeth City State Vikings bolted out to a 12-4 lead and held Bowie State six-of- 25 field goal shooting (24 percent) in the first 20 minutes. BSU's Bulldogs missed all seven of its first half three-point tries and made just two-of-eight from the free throw line.

Elizabeth City State was almost as bad, shooting nine-of-20 from the floor, including two-of-seven behind the arc and three-of-11 at the charity stripe and went into halftime with a 23-14 lead.

Elizabeth City State began the second stanza with a 12-0 run to give the Vikings their largest lead of the night at 35-14. Bowie State junior Delmar Carey (Charlotteville, VA, Monticello, Coastal Georgia C.C.) scored a lay-up at the 17:10 mark to stop the ECSU run.

Trailing 42-21 with 14:08 left to play, Bowie State went on a 12-0 run to narrow the gap to 42-33. Soon after this run, is when Engel caught fire for BSU's Bulldogs. Engel pulled Bowie State within nine (52-43) and junior Duke Crews (Hampton, VA, Bethel, Univ. of Tennessee) followed that with a dunk. Engel came through again, nailing drilling two deep 3-point buckets and added a lay-up to bring the Bulldogs within three at 58-55 with 1:23 left on the clock.

Elizabeth City State's Anthony Hilliard scored a crucial bucket in the paint with 31 seconds left in regulation and was fouled on the play by Crews. Hilliard missed the free throw and Engel nailed his fifth triple of the game, closing BSU's deficit to 60-58.

Elizabeth City State had trouble getting the ball inbounds and BSU thought they created a five-second violation. However, ECSU's Trent Bivens called the Vikings final timeout with 22 seconds remaining, avoiding the violation. Bivens wrapped up the evening with a team-high 17 points on four-of-eight field goal shooting and eight-of-nine from the free throw line.

Following the timeout, DeJuan Morrison (11 points) snuck behind the Bulldogs defense to score a wide open lay-up. BSU senior Curtis Massey (Upper Marlboro, MD, Largo, Dodge City CC) responded with a quick lay-up on the other end but Mel Johnson added a bucket and free throw with three-tenths of a second to seal the win for Elizabeth City State

Other than Engel, Crews scored 14 points a hauled down a game-high 17 rebounds. As a team, Bowie State connected on 17-of-26 second half field goals (65 percent), which included seven-of-nine behind the arc. However, Bowie State managed just seven-of-18 from the free throw line on the night.

Elizabeth City State had an awful night at the free throw line as well, converting only 18-of-32 but turned 16 Bowie State turnovers into 26 Vikings points. Elizabeth City State will wrap up their regular season – Saturday, February 21st hosting the CIAA Eastern Division leading Panthers of Virginia Union before a nationally televised audience.

Bowie State will close out their regular season at home – Saturday (2/21) against the Pioneers of Columbia Union College at 7 p.m.