BOWIE, Md. - Bowie State suffered an 82-71 loss to conference foe Virginia Union inside the A.C. Jordan Arena before a live ESPN3 audience on Thursday evening. The loss dropped the Bulldogs to 13-9 this season, 5-4 in conference play and 1-1 within the division. The victory pushed the Panthers to 12-10 overall, 5-4 in conference play and 2-2 North.
PHOTOS (Courtesy of Carroll Smith)
"We weren't deserving on winning tonight … They outworked us, they out fought us, they outrebounded us and I tip my hat to them", said Bowie State Head Coach
Darrell Brooks.
Bowie State started the game slow as Virginia Union jumped to a quick 13-1 lead at the 17:22 mark. But the Bulldogs chipped away at the Panthers lead and eventually tied the game at 27 apiece at the 6:05 mark. The score for the remainder of the period stayed close as Bowie State finally took the 37-36 lead going into halftime.
Unlike the first half, Bowie State controlled the lead for most of the period. They held it up until the 6:39 mark, when Virginia Union's Terrell Leach converted on a layup to put the Panthers up, 64-62. With Leach going on a scoring rampage in the second half, the Bulldogs were unable to recapture its lead and eventually saw the game slip out of their hands.
Senior
David Belle (Hyattsville, Md.), who scored his 1,000th career point at the 6:34 mark in the first half, led the Bulldogs in scoring with 17 points. Senior
Juwan Smith (Lexington Park, Md.) followed up with 13 points. Junior
Justin Route (Washington D.C.) added 12 points while seniors Cameron Haynes (Upper Marlboro, Md.) and
Saiquan Jamison (Upper Marlboro, Md.) scored 10 points each.
Virginia Union was led by Leach who scored 30 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field. Raemaad Wright added 21 points and Jordan Peebles followed up with 12 points.
For the game, Virginia Union shot 55 percent (30-of-55) from the field, 27 percent (3-of-11) behind the 3-point line and made 73 percent (19-of-26) of its free throws. The Panthers dominated inside, outscoring the Bulldogs 50-22 in the paint.
Bowie State shot 39 percent (24-of-61) from the field, 41 percent (10-of-24) from long-distance and made 54 percent (13-of-24) of its free throws. The Bulldogs held advantages in points off turnovers (19-16) and bench points (26-12).
On Saturday (2/1), Bowie State will look to get back into the win column against Virginia State University, in another conference matchup at home.
