BOWIE, Md. - Bowie State University men's basketball closed out its regular season with a 67-57 home finale win against Elizabeth City State University on Saturday afternoon. The win put the Bulldogs in a tie for third in the CIAA Northern Division with a 5-5 division record, 9-7 in league play and 16-12 overall.
 
Bowie State senior Andre Jackson (Baltimore, Md.) led all scorers with a game-high 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field to go along with a team-high seven rebounds. Senior Justin Beck (Ellicott City, Md.) finished his last game in the A.C. Jordan Arena with 13 points, two blocks and one steal. Sophomore Ahmaad Wilson (Baltimore, Md.) and junior Michael Briscoe (Waldorf, Md.) came off the Bulldogs bench to add 12 and 10 points respectively.
 
Elizabeth City State (9-14, 6-10 CIAA, 2-8 North) had three players score in double figures with Matthew McIntosh (Bowie, Md.) leading the way with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting to go along with seven rebounds in the loss. Clayton Cowell (Hampton, Va.) contributed 11 points (eight in the second half) and Miykael Faulcon (Durham, N.C.) chipped in 10 points for the Vikings. James Theus (Portsmouth, Va.) grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and added five points.
 
The Bulldogs jumped all over the Vikings to start the game and held a commanding 28-3 lead at the 5:44 mark of the first half. Bowie State continued to pummel Elizabeth City State, taking a 34-15 lead into halftime.
 
However, there are two halves to a game and Elizabeth City State opened the final 20 minutes with an 18-2 run that trimmed Bowie State's lead down to 38-35 by the 12:47 mark. The Vikings pulled within one (42-41) following a Jermaine Brown (Hampton, Va.) layup.
 
Fortunately for Bowie State, that's as close as Elizabeth City State would get before the Bulldogs went on a 15-3 run to push the lead back up to double digits at 57-44 with 4:12 remaining in the game.
 
In terms of team stats, Bowie State shot 40 percent from the floor (22-of-55) and knocked down 82.6 percent of their free throws (19-of-23) and tied its season-high in blocks with nine.
 
"We told our guys at halftime that this team (ECSU) would not quit'", said Bowie State head coach Darrell Brooks. "We lost a little focus offensively in the second half which hurt our defense, but credit our guys for regaining their focus."
 
The Bulldogs now await Sunday's (2/21) CIAA Tournament pairings to find out who their opponent will be. The tournament gets underway on Tuesday (2/23) at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, N.C.