Box Score BOX SCORE

(SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va.)  Senior Darren Clark scored a BSU career-high 28 points (22 in the second half) to lead the 8th ranked Bulldogs to a thrilling 78-75 victory over the Shepherd University Rams. 

Shepherd was led by Brantley Osborne with a team-high 25 points on 6-of-11 field goal shooting with 3-of-4 beyond the 3-point arc.  Osborne was a perfect 10-for-10 in the charity stripe and almost pulled out a win all on his own.  Chad Moore scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the loss and Malik Dauda added 11 points.

Shepherd (1-1) held a 75-69 lead after a pair of Osborne free throws with 1:39 remaining, but the Bulldogs finished the game with a 9-0 run behind seven points from Clark to come away with the win.  For his efforts, Clark was named to the All-Classic team along with junior teammate Byron Westmorland.  Westmorland scored 17 points and was selected as the Classic MVP.

Shepherd's Rams jumped out to an early 4-0 first half lead before Bowie State went on an 11-0 run over a four minute stretch.  The BSU lead grew to 15-6 before Shepherd countered with a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to two. 

The lead changed hands twice in the first half but Shepherd was able to take a 39-35 advantage into the break.  Hot shooting from Friday night's game carried over for Bowie State as the Bulldogs hit 15-of-26 (57.7%) from the floor in the first half.

Shepherd went 15-of-35 from the field in the first 20 minutes with Moore accounting for 14 before intermission.

Both Shepherd and Bowie State never led by more than five, except for the Rams six point advantage with just under two minutes left in regulation.  Unlike the first half, the final 20 minutes of action saw 13 lead changes and six ties.

Bowie State (2-0) ended the game shooting over fifty percent for the second game in a row, closing out Shepherd at 55.6% on 30-of-54 field goals.

Another bright spot for Bowie State was the play of Preseason All-CIAA candidate Travis Hyman.  Plagued with foul trouble on Friday plus being held scoreless, Hyman blocked a game-high eight shots to go along with eight rebounds, nine points and a career-high five assists. 

Bowie State returns to action Friday (November 25th) versus Cheyney University of Pennsylvania at 4 pm in Milwaukee (WI) as part of the Fresh Coast Classic.