WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Bowie State University (11-6, 4-2 CIAA) men's basketball held off a feisty Winston-Salem State team, defeating the Rams 59-53 on Wednesday evening. The 59 points were a season-low for the Bulldogs.
 
Senior Justin Beck (Ellicott City, Md.) and junior Michael Briscoe (Waldorf, Md.) paced Bowie State's offense with 19 and 10 points respectively. Senior Julian Livingston (Bowie, Md.) was the teams' top rebounder with eight to go along with five points, three assists and one block. Beck, senior Andre Jackson (Baltimore, Md.) and junior Enuoma Ebinum (Greenbelt, Md.) pulled down five rebounds each. Beck also tied his career-high in assists with a game-high four.
 
Bowie State rallied from an 11-point first half deficit and carried a 26-24 advantage into intermission. The Bulldogs shot 34.5 percent from the field (10-of-29) in the first 20 minutes and made 5-of-7 first half free throws.
 
The Bulldogs led by seven twice early in the second half before the Rams battled back to tie the game at 37-all at the 12:40 mark. From there, C.J. Ford made one of two free throws and a Jamel McAllister jumper gave Winston-Salem State a slim 42-39 edge.
 
The Rams maintained a lead until Briscoe layup knotted the score at 47-all and Beck made 1-of-2 free throws to shift the advantage back over to Bowie State.
 
After a Beck bucket put the Bulldogs up by five, Bowie State closed it out by hitting 4-of-5 free throws in the final 26 seconds.  
 
"We knew they would be dangerous and jacked up being at home with the students here" said Bowie State head coach Darrell Brooks. "They are a real athletic team but not a real skilled team. So we knew if we played a lot more zone tonight we could be successful and I thought our guys did a good job of recognizing what was going on out there."
 
Keith Armstrong was Winston-Salem State's points and rebounds leader with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds. Ford and Terrell Leach accounted for 11 and 10 points respectively in the loss. The Rams drop to 0-5 in the CIAA and 6-10 overall.
 
The Bulldogs open CIAA Northern Division play on Saturday (1/16), traveling to Lincoln University of Pennsylvania for a 4 p.m. television game versus the Lions in Manuel Rivero Gymnasium.