Box Score BOX SCORE

(MILWAUKEE, Wisc.)  Bowie State University persevered and rallied to defeat Cheyney University 76-70 to advance to Saturday's (11/26) Fresh Coast Classic Championship game.  Bowie State (3-0) will look to defend their 2010 Fresh Coast Championship title with a 4 pm matchup against CIAA conference foe Lincoln University of Pennsylvania.  Lincoln (Pa.) defeated Fisk University 82-66 in the other collegiate game.

Cheyney began the game with a 6-0 run before Bowie State junior Byron Westmorland scored the first three points for the Bulldogs at the 15:10 mark of the opening period.  Senior Jay Gavin scored on a layup to give Bowie State its only lead of the first half at 7-6.  The Cheyney Wolves responded with 23-10 run to take a 12 point advantage before settling on a 31-23 lead at halftime.

With 8:30 remaining in the first half, the Wolves made three consecutive unanswered three pointers, two by Brandon Baylor and one by Anthony Juene which sparked the Cheyney run.

However, Bowie State opened the second half with an 8-0 run to pull even at 31.  Senior Darren Clark scored six of those points and Gavin added the other deuce.

Cheyney (0-4) kept the Bulldogs at bay, leading by as much as nine (60-51) at the 8:16 mark of the final period.  Shooting behind the arc was huge for Cheyney's Wolves, hitting 6-of-13 in the second half and 10-of-26 for the game.

“They are a team of confidence … At some points in time they had five guards on the floor and three of the five are very capable of hitting 3-pointers”, said third-year head Coach Darrell Brooks

There's a saying that goes, it's not where you start but where you finish, and that's exactly what Bowie State did over the final eight minutes.  Clark, Gavin and junior Bryan Wilson pulled the BSU Bulldogs within one at 62-61 at the 4:50 mark.

A pair of free throws by Jason Saab gave Cheyney a small three point cushion, but a triple by Gavin tied the game at 64-64.  There would be two more tie scores before a pair of Clark free throws shifted the advantage over to Bowie State for good with 2:09 remaining.  The free throws started an 8-0 Bulldogs run, giving Bowie State its largest lead of seven at 74-67.

Juene drained a three-pointer with 11 seconds left to play, cutting the Wolves deficit to four, but that's as close as Cheyney would get.

“Make no mistake about it, a win is a win and we're the type of team where we're going to be in tight games like this all year”, said Brooks.  “We're not going to be able to blow every team that we play … I think as you try to win championships, you're going to have games like this and this was a defining game.”

Clark scored a team-high 23 points which included 10-of-12 from the charity stripe.  Gavin scored 13 points and tied his career-high of seven rebounds.  Senior Travis Hyman just missed a double-double, scoring 10 points to go along with nine rebounds.

Jason Saab led Cheyney with 26 points on 11-of-19 shooting from the floor.  Baylor and Rashaad Slappy ended the afternoon with 14 and 12 points respectively.  Juene rounded out the Wolves double-digit scorers with 11 points.

Bowie State dominated on the glass, out-rebounding Cheyney 47-25.  The Bulldogs also held an advantage at the charity stripe as well.  Bowie State knocked down 26-of-33 compared to 6-of-11 for Cheyney.