BOX SCORE
(LAWRENCEVILLE, Va.) Bowie State University had its two-game win streak snapped and were stunned 73-68 by Saint Paul’s College. Bowie State senior
Armond Hill (Silver Spring, MD, Springbrook, Montgomery - Rockville C.C.) scored a team-high 20 points and sophomore
Travis Hyman (Annapolis, MD, Old Mill, Prince George's C.C.) added 15 points and a game-high eight blocked shots to lead the Bulldogs in the CIAA divisional loss.
The game was relatively close in the first four minutes of the contest until Bowie State took a double-digit lead (26-16) by the 8:46 mark. Bowie State kept Saint Paul’s in the red for the majority of the first period until a layup by Saint Paul’s freshman Melvin Horne (Dunwoody, Ga.) with two seconds left before intermission. That momentum took the hungry Tigers into halftime with a slim 36-35 lead.
Saint Paul’s (3-13, 2-12 CIAA, 1-1 East) opened the second half with a 5-0 run to extend their lead to 40-35 before Bowie State’s Hill scored the Bulldogs’ first points of the half. Saint Paul’s maintained a narrow lead until the midway point of the final period. Freshman
Dominic Milburn (Silver Spring, MD, Montrose Christian) nailed a jumper with 10:40 left to play, giving the advantage back to Bowie State at 52-51.
Bowie State (11-7, 9-5 CIAA, 1-1 East) was unable to shake loose from Saint Paul’s as the home team gained confidence after every defensive stop. Junior George Leseur (Hampton, Va.), the team’s leading scorer with 20 points, shifted the advantage back to Saint Paul’s at the 4:27 mark and the Tigers would not relinquish the lead for the remainder of the game. In fact, Saint Paul’s outscored Bowie State 14-7 over the final 5:22 to seal the key division win.
Joining Leseaur in double figure scoring for Saint Paul’s were sophomore Ibn-Saeed Rasoull (Petersburg, Va.) and freshman Kendrick Williams (Winston-Salem, N.C.) with 13 points each. Junior Maurice Reevy (Richmond, Va.) rounded out Saint Paul’s top scorers, tallying 12 points. Rasoull was the teams leading rebounder with seven rebounds, all on the defensive end.
Saint Paul’s outrebounded Bowie State 35-32 and forced BSU’s Bulldogs into 21 turnovers. SPC’s Tigers also performed better from the free throw line than their opponent, converting 19-of-27 compared to 12-of-20 for Bowie State’s Bulldogs.
Saint Paul’s wrapped up the evening shooting 49 percent from the field (26-of-53), which included 13-of-26 in the final period of play.
Bowie State closed out the night hitting 44 percent from the floor, but made none of their eight second half 3-point attempts. Bowie State made 4-of-8 first half 3-point field goals with freshman
Bryan Wilson (Upper Marlboro, MD, Riverdale Baptist School) knocking down three of those. Wilson ended the contest with 13 points and a personal season-high five rebounds.
First-year head coach
Darrell Brooks summed up Bowie State performance by saying, “This was a very, very, very disheartening loss in that we just never played to the level we needed to play and give them (Saint Paul’s) all the credit because they played to the level they needed to play.” Brooks went on to say, “We did not handle pressure well and that was really the key to the game.
Bowie State will look to get back to winning ways when they take on the Trojans of Virginia State University in another key CIAA Eastern Division game – Thursday (February 4) in VSU’s Daniel Gymnasium. Tip time is set for 7:30 p.m.