Box Score MURFREESBORO, N.C. – Senior Ray Gatling (Oxon Hill, Md.) recorded a team-high 22 points for the Bowie State Bulldogs, but the Chowan Hawks came away with the stunning 65-62 win on Saturday afternoon.
 
In addition to Gatling's production, sophomore Andre Jackson (Owings Mills, Md.) added 10 points to go along with two blocked shots, tying his career-high. Junior Cameron Knox (Baltimore, Md.) tallied a team-high nine rebounds, tying his career-high. 
 
Phoenix Butler-Poole paced all players with 26 points in the Hawks victory.  He also hauled down a game-high 13 rebounds.  Kortez Smith and Ashante Ross added 14 and 12 points respectively. 
 
The Hawks and Bulldogs battled at the start of the first half, matching each other bucket for bucket.  A three-pointer by Butler-Poole at the 15:14 mark gave the Hawks an 8-7 lead.  Chowan maintained in control of the score for the remainder of the first half.  Smith's three-pointer with five seconds on the clock allowed the Hawks to enjoy a four point (33-29) advantage heading into halftime. 
 
Chowan built their lead to as many as 10 points (45-35) with 14:25 left in the game.  The Bulldogs refused to go down easily and fought their way back to tie the score 54-54 with 5:32 remaining on a made free throw by Gatling.  Another made free throw by Gatling on his next opportunity gave Bowie State their first lead of the half. 
 
With the Hawks trailing 62-58 and 2:08 on the clock, a three-pointer by Ross brought the Hawks within a mere point of their opponent.  Ross followed with a lay-up to put Chowan in the lead 63-62 at the 1:20 mark and a lay-up by Tiron Brown in the final 12 seconds secured the 65-62 victory for the Hawks. 
 
Bowie State won the battle on the glass, holding a 36-32 advantage as well as points in the paint 26-14 and bench points 21-19.
 
Overall field goal shooting was pretty even as the Bulldogs made 21-of-53 (39.6 percent) compared to 22-of-56 (39.3 percent) for the Hawks. The big difference was Chowan knocking down 11-of-24 shots behind the 3-point line compared to only 4-of-14 for Bowie State.
 
The Bulldogs close out the season with three straight home games beginning with 7:30 pm clash against Virginia Union on Monday (2/17) night.