Box Score BOWIE, Md. – In a battle of regional ranked teams, #4 Bowie State ran its current win streak to five following a 77-71 conference win over #7 Winston-Salem State on Monday evening. The CIAA has three schools in this week's Atlantic Region poll, which also includes #10 Livingstone.
 
Bowie State senior Cameron Knox (Baltimore, Md.) controlled the scoring with a game-high 28 points and shot 83 percent from the free-throw line. Junior Justin Beck (Ellicott City, Md.) led the Bulldogs' defense with 11 rebounds, tying his career-high and contributed 16 points with three assists for the BSU offense.
 
"The thing that I loved about today's game was even though it wasn't our best game, but we played tough … on the floor for loose balls, did a good job on the boards and we really defended well", said Bowie State head coach Darrell Brooks.
 
The WSSU Rams were led in scoring by Javan Wells (Lovejoy, Ga.) who scored 16 points to go with three rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot. Terrell Leach (High Point, N.C.) finished with 13 points, two steals, two rebounds and an assist, while WyKevin Bazemore (Kelford, N.C.) picked up a double-double, chipping in 11 points and 10 rebounds. CJ Ford (Fayetteville, N.C.) added 10 points and six rebounds in the loss.
 
Winston-Salem State (7-4 / 0-2 CIAA) started the game hot, controlling the tempo early and would run out to an early 17-10 lead by the 9:00 mark.
 
Bowie State (11-4, 3-0 CIAA) would settle down, and began to chip into the Rams lead, and would take the lead at 24-23 with 3:33 left in the first half.
 
The Bulldogs would use a 15-6 run over the rest of the half, to put some distance between the two schools.
 
A Bazemore put back dunk at the first half buzzer would trim Bowie State's lead to 39-29 at the half.
 
Bowie State would continue their solid play as the second half begun, and by the time five minutes had come off the clock, they had increased their lead to a game high 16 points, 51-35.
Five quick points from WSSU, led by a three pointer from Wells and a dunk from Marquez Jones (Kinston, N.C.), cut the Bulldogs lead to 12.
 
The game would remain even until the 7:18 mark, when Bazemore would get a basket, followed by two CJ Ford free throws cut the lead to just six points at 61-55. Wells would sink another three-pointer with 2:49 remaining to cut the lead to five, coming to the stretch run of the game.
 
The Rams would make one final push to mount a comeback, as Leach and Donta Harper (Greenville, N.C.) would hits three pointers late to cut the lead to four points, but the Bulldogs would convert their free throw in the final moment to secure the 77-71 victory over the visiting Winston-Salem State.
 
Winston-Salem State was held to 27.8 percent shooting from the floor, making just 20-of-72 shot attempts, and for the second game in a row, missed double digit free throw attempts, making 22of-32.
 
Bowie State ended the night with 50 percent field goal shooting percentage (27-of-54) and went 21-of-31 (67.7 percent) at the free throw line.
 
The Bulldogs will take the road for three in a row, starting with a Thursday (January 8th) cross division contest at Saint Augustine's University in Raleigh, N.C. Game time in SAU's Emery Gymnasium is 7:30 pm.