ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. – The Bowie State men's basketball team dropped a 60-55 regular season finale on the road at Elizabeth City State on Saturday afternoon and will enter the CIAA Tournament as the #3 seed in the North. The loss sets Bowie State's record at 16-12 overall, 12-5 in league play and 6-4 within the division.
 
The Bowie State duo of Saiquan Jamison and Cameron Hayes led the team in scoring with 13 and 12 points respectively and David Belle added eight in the setback. Bowie State outrebound Elizabeth City State 37-33, shot a season-low 29.6 percent from the field (16-of-54) but made 82 percent of its free throws, going 18-of-22 at the stripe.
 
Elizabeth City State (13-15, 9-8 CIAA, 3-7 North) carried a 32-22 advantage into halftime on 50 percent shooting from the field (12-of-24) while holding Bowie State to 28 percent from the field (8-of-29) over the first 20 minutes. The Bulldogs went scoreless over the last 1:54 of the first half following a Juwan Smith jumper.
 
Sloppy start to second half by both teams before Bowie State's Cameron Hayes was able to put points on the board at the 17:20 mark but trailed 32-24. The Bulldogs trailed by 10 at one points but closed the gap to 38-37 via a 13-6 run, capped off by a 3-point play by Yohance Fleming.
 
Bowie State regained the lead at 41-39 after a pair of Fleming free throws with 10:28 remaining in the highly contested contest.
 
The lead changed hands two times over a span of three minutes before Elizabeth City State ran off a 9-1 run to create a 51-45 advantage with 6:06 to go in the contest.
 
The Bulldogs kept battling to pull within four six times and were down three (57-54) with 24 seconds remaining in the game, but could not make the full comeback to end the regular season on a positive note.
 
Joseph Allen paced Elizabeth City State in scoring with 12 points and J Faison contributed 11 points. Allen and Omar Roberts were the leading rebounders for the Vikings with eight apiece. Corey Mendez and Shyheid Petteway ended the afternoon with nine points each.
 
The Vikings wrapped up the game shooting 45 percent from the field (21-of-47) and 61 percent (17-of-28) at the free throw line. ECSU also held advantages in points in the paint (24-14, points off turnovers (17-9) and bench points (26-12).