CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Bowie State men's basketball won its fifth straight game and defeated Johnson C. Smith 80-77 in Brayboy Gymnasium on Thursday evening.
 
Senior Saiquan Jamison (Upper Marlboro, Md.) scored personal season-best 17 points and added a game-high 10 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs to the win. Senior Rinardo Perry (Washington, D.C.) recorded 13 points and a team-high three assists while fellow seniors Cameron Hayes (Upper Marlboro, Md.) and David Belle (Hyattsville, Md.) and tallied 12 and 11 points respectively.
 
"To win at JCSU is always tough and we did the things we had to do to win he game" said Bowie State Head Coach Darrell Brooks. "We really defended well in the latter part of the game, made shots and cut down on turnovers."
 
Bowie State (10-6 / 2-2 CIAA) jumped out to an early 10-4 lead in the first four minutes of action and held a 22-21 advantage by the under 10-minute media timeout (7:51) and carried a 39-37 lead into halftime.
 
Johnson C. Smith had a better field goal shooting percentage over the first 20 minutes, making 13-of-28 field goals (46.4 percent) and 9-of-10 free throws compared to 14-of-37 (37.8 percent) for Bowie State.
 
Johnson C. Smith (8-5 / 2-4 CIAA) scored the first points of the second half and took a 51-50 lead into the first media timeout of the half.
 
A Hayes 3-pointer from the corner with just under 14 minutes to play in the second half shifted the advantage back over to the Bulldogs at 53-52.
 
The lead would change hands seven times over the next four minutes until a Jamison tip-in at the 9:12 mark gave Bowie State the lead for good. Four straight Hayes free throws gave the Bulldogs a 67-62 lead before Cayce Minor stopped the mini run with a conventional 3-point play to close the JCSU deficit to 67-65.
 
A breakaway layup by JCSU's Nenad Milenkovic created the games 10th tie but BSU's Jamison knocked down a pair of free throws to give the lead back to the Bulldogs at 69-67.
 
Johnson C. Smith's Aaron Adair hit a jumper out of the final media timeout to tie the contest at 69 a piece only to have Bowie State's Jamison give the advantage back to the Bulldogs at 71-69.
 
Bowie State junior Kani Coles (Baltimore, Md.) had two opportunities to add to Bowie State's lead but missed four consecutive free throws with just over two minutes remaining on the Brayboy Gymnasium clock to leave the door open for Johnson C. Smith.
 
Milenkovic calmly knocked down two free throws for JCSU's Golden Bulls to tie the score at 74-all but BSU's Belle answered on the other end with a pair of free throws to give the Bulldogs a 76-74 lead. A Belle free throw line jumper gave the Bulldogs a little breathing room at 78-74 with 1:21 left in the game and Bowie State would not relinquish the lead for the remainder of the game.
 
Milenkovic paced Johnson C. Smith with a game-high 24 points and Cayse Minor contributed 17 points. Ben Cox just missed a double-double for the Golden Bulls chipping in nine points and a team-high eight rebounds.  
 
The Bulldogs travel to Columbia, S.C. on Saturday to face the Panthers of Claflin University at 3:30 p.m.