PETERSBURG, Va. - The Bowie State Bulldogs men's basketball team overcame a 12-point second half deficit and rallied to defeat Virginia State 65-61 on Wednesday evening in the VSU Multi-Purpose Center. With the victory, the Bulldogs improve their season mark to 11-14 overall, 8-7 in the league and 4-5 in the CIAA North.
 
The Bulldogs were led by junior Omari George (Baltimore, Md.) with a game-high 18 points on 7 of-13 shooting from the field and added six rebounds, three steals and a block. Senior Enuoma Ebinum (Greenbelt, Md.) recorded a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds while junior Dayshawn Wells (Baltimore, Md.) chipped in 10 points in the win.
 
Redshirt freshman David Belle (Hyattsville, Md.) and senior Brian Kelley (Lanham, Md.) contributed nine and eight points respectively for Bowie State. Junior Ahmaad Wilson (Baltimore, Md.) and senior Michael Briscoe (Waldorf, Md.) rounded the Bulldog scorers with eight and six points respectively.
 
Elijah Moore led Virginia State (20-5, 12-3 CIAA, 7-2 North) with a team-high 15 points and tied for team-high rebound honors (Ken Woodard) with eight. The Trojans trio of Woodard, Waymond Wright and Richard Granberry accounted for nine points each.
 
The Bowie State defense held the Trojans to 34.3 percent shooting in the second half (12-of-35), which included 1-of-13 behind the 3-point line. On the flipside, the Bulldogs knocked down 11-of-22 second half field goals (50 percent) and 18-of-23 (78.3 percent) free throws.
 
The Bulldogs were getting good looks at the basket in the first half but had trouble getting shots to drop. Over the first 20 minutes, Bowie State managed to make only 6-of-26 first half field goals with 11 of those attempts coming behind the arc. Bowie State scored the first four points of the contest before Virginia State responded with four straight points of their own.
 
A Belle free throw gave the lead back to Bowie State at 5-4 but VSU's Granberry knotted the score at 5-all at the 13:15 mark. From there, the Trojans went on a 15-5 run to take a 20-10 advantage and use that momentum to carry a 33-22 lead into intermission.
 
Virginia State maintained a double-digit lead most of the second half and led Bowie State by a dozen (50-38) with 9:55 to go in the game.
 
Bowie State put together a 15-4 burst to pull within one (54-53) at the 4:16 mark and took the lead for good with 51 seconds following a Wells 3-pointer.  
 
Bowie State University closes out the regular season on Saturday (2/25) at Elizabeth City State University. Game time in the R.L. Vaughan Center is 4 p.m.