BOX SCORE

(LAWRENCEVILLE, Va.) Bowie State won its third consecutive game and seventh of last eight games, defeating Saint Paul's College 88-81. The Bulldogs, ranked second in the NCAA Atlantic Region, improves their season record to 13-3 overall, 8-1 in the CIAA and a perfect 3-0 in the Northern Division.

The first half was extremely tight with Bowie State leading the majority of the time. The BSU Bulldogs held a 29-18 advantage midway through the first period before Saint Paul's went on a 16-7 run to pull within two at 36-34 at the 3:21 mark.

Maurice Reevey gave the Saint Paul's Tigers a brief 40-39 lead with just under a minute remaining in the first half. However, Bowie State senior Eric Vann (Clinton, MD, Gwynn Park, Prince George's C.C.) drilled a triple with two seconds left to give the Bulldogs a 43-40 halftime lead.

Bowie State connected of 15-of-29 first half field goals, which included four-of-10 behind the arc. Vann led the Bulldogs in the first half with 11 points.

As a team, Saint Paul's shot pretty well in a very chilly Brunswick High School Gymnasium. The Tigers hit 16-of-33 from the field and were led by Maurice Reevey with 16 first period points.

The Bulldogs lead grew to 69-57 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the game, mainly behind the play of sophomore Byron Westmorland (Baltimore, MD, Mergenthaler, Baltimore City C.C.). Westmorland scored nine straight points during that stretch and ended the afternoon with a game-high 26 points before fouling out with 2:32 left to play.

Saint Paul's (6-10, 3-6 CIAA, 2-1 North) kept in close over the first seven minutes of the second half. Tigers trailed by only two (58-56) until the Bulldogs went on an 11-1 run to take its largest lead of the game at 69-57 with a little under 10 minutes remaining in the game.

Reevey paced Saint Paul's with 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds. Ibn Rassoull added 17 points and Joshua Inadagbo chipped in 16 points in the loss.

Other double figure scorers for Bowie State's Bulldogs include Vann with 18 points and juniors Travis Hyman (Annapolis, MD, Old Mill, Anne Arundel C.C.) and Jay Gavin (Seat Pleasant, MD, Bishop McNamara, Virginia Commonwealth University) with 13 and 11 points respectively. Hyman led the Bulldogs with nine rebounds and sophomore Bryan Wilson (Upper Marlboro, MD, Riverdale Baptist School) grabbed eight rebounds.

The Bulldogs return to action Monday (January 31), hosting the Trojans of Virginia State University. Tip time in BSU's A.C. Jordan Arena is 7:30 pm.