BOWIE, Md. – Graduate senior Tyler Jones (Pleasantville, NJ) and sophomore Anthony Carpenter (Reisterstown, MD) combined for 13 points in overtime to help lead the Bowie State men's basketball team to a 97-93 home victory Thursday afternoon inside A.C. Jordan Arena. The win improved the Bulldogs to 3-8 overall while Bloomfield dips to 2-8 on the year.
Jones led the Bulldogs in scoring with 19 points, including 4-of-5 from the free throw line to go along with five rebounds while Carpenter added 18 points on 5-of-6 shooting, five rebounds and four assists while sophomore David McCullough (Bowie, MD) and junior Quinton Drayton (Bowie, MD) both contributed 17 and 16 points, respectively.
The Bulldogs had one of the best shooting halves of the season during the opening half, shooting 69-percent from the field on 20-of-29 shots and an impressive 7-of-13 (54-percent) from the 3-point line.
After trailing 4-0, the Bulldogs scored their first bucket of the afternoon on a jumper from Drayton that led to the Bulldogs scoring 10 unanswered points to take a 10-4 lead at the 16:12 mark. Bowie State's offense started clicking on all cylinders from there as the Bulldogs ballooned a lead as large as 15 points capped off by a 3-pointer from graduate Jones with 4:13 left in the first half.
A minute later, Bloomfield scored seven unanswered points before gathering a 16-4 scoring spread that would cut the Bulldogs lead to single digits, 52-44 at halftime.
Bowie State led most of the second half and even built a double digit lead of 11 points twice before Bloomfield went on a 20-9 run at the 9:29 mark, highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers with under two minutes remaining to force the game into overtime at 84-even.
In the extra session, the Bulldogs took a 6-2 lead with 2:53 left until the Bears capitalized on a pair of free throws to pull within three. Jones then scored three-straight free throws to extend BSU's lead 93-88 but a transition 3-pointer from the Bears would give Bowie State a slight 93-91 ledge with 56 seconds left. The final 50 seconds, the game would become a free throw battle as the Bulldogs connected 4-of-6 freebies compared to Bloomfield who only went to the line once.
For the contest, Bowie State shot 53-percent from the field, 41-percent from the 3-point line and 81-percent from the charity stripe while outscoring the Bears 42-38 in the paint.
Bowie State will return to action on Monday, Jan. 3 with its final non-conference game of the season at West Liberty. Game time is set for 4 p.m.
For the most up-to-date information on Bowie State University Athletics and its 13 varsity sports teams, please visit www.bsubulldogs.com.
