LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, Pa. - Bowie State recorded a key CIAA division win on Saturday (1/25) afternoon routing Lincoln (Pa.) 89-73 inside a packed Manuel Rivero Hall. The Bulldogs are now 13-8 this season overall, 5-3 in conference play and 1-0 in within the division. The Lions drop to 7-14 this season overall and 3-6 in conference play.
"We started the game very sluggish on defense which contributed to Lincoln (Pa.) opening up a good lead on us, but we called a timeout, our guys came together and did a great job defensively from that point on", said Head Coach
Darrell Brooks. "We were simply missing open shots in the first half, got the hot hand and continued to elevate our play and it was a great road win for us."
Junior
Justin Route (Washington, D.C.) led the Bulldogs in scoring with a career-high 22 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field and a team and career-high eight rebounds.
Juwan Smith (Lexington Park, Md.) and
David Belle (Hyattsville, Md.) both followed up with 15 points each. Belle entered the game with 977 career points and needs just eight points to join Bowie State's 1,000 Point Club. Redshirt freshman David McCollough (Bowie, Md). and senior
Cameron Hayes (Upper Marlboro, Md.) both chipped in 10 points each. Hayes is close to joining the Bulldogs' 1,000 Point Club as well, needing 17 points to be a part of this elite group.
For Lincoln (Pa.), Deaquan Williams led the four Lions in double-digit scoring with 18 points and a game-high nine rebounds while Bernard Lightsey followed up with 16 points. Jordan Camper scored 11 points, and Deonta Dunlap contributed in 10 points.
In the first half, the game was entertaining as both teams went back and forth by converting made baskets on the other. The most significant lead was when Lincoln held a 12-point lead when Lightsey connected on his second free throw attempt. But Bowie State ending up leaving the half with a 42-36 lead.
The Bulldogs also held the advantage in points in the paint (16-12), points off turnovers (4-3), second-chance points (8-3), and bench scoring (21-0). But the Lions shot better from the field at 50 percent (13-of 26) and knocked down its free throws at a higher rate (58 percent)-- compared to Bowie State shooting 40 percent (17-of-42) and only converting 25 percent (1-of-4) of its free throws.
The second half was a different story as Bowie State put a scoring exhibition on display. The team jumped to an 18-point lead at the 15:36 minute mark after back-to-back jumpers by Route. Then at 6:17, the Bulldogs held a 28-point lead on their way to victory, which is the most significant lead the team has had this season.
During this scoring outbreak, Bowie State shot 58 percent (20-of-34) from the field and 39 percent (11-of-28) from long range. Lincoln finished the game shooting 40 percent (24-of-60) from the field, 24 percent (7-of-29) from 3-point range and made 62 percent (18-of-29) of its free throws.
On Thursday (1/30), Bowie State will host conference foe Virginia Union, in a game scheduled to broadcast on the ESPN 3 platform with game time set for 7:30 p.m.
