Bowie State Bulldogs Clinch CIAA North Crown with 89-77 Win at Elizabeth City State

ELIZABETH CITY, North Carolina  --  The Bowie State University men's basketball team closed out its 2014-15 regular season with an 89-77 victory over Elizabeth City State University on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Bulldogs improve to 21-7 overall, 13-3 in league play and 8-2 in the North. The win also clinches the CIAA Northern Division title for the Bulldogs.

Senior and CIAA Player of the Year Cameron Knox led five Bowie State players in double-figures with a team-high 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field. Freshman Dayshawn Wells (Baltimore, Md.) netted a career-high 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field and junior Andre Jackson (Baltimore, Md.) added 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting.

Junior Justin Beck (Ellicott City, Md.) and freshman Ahmaad Wilson (Baltimore, Md.) chipped in 11 points apiece in the win.

Elizabeth City State (9-20, 2-14 CIAA, 0-10 North) was led by Brachon Griffin with a game-high 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting to go along with six rebounds, four assists and a game-high five steals. Darrell Ward notched a double-double of 19 and 10 rebounds for the Vikings and added five assists, two blocks and three steals. John Tatum recorded 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field.

The Bulldogs led by as much as 17 in the first half (42-25) before a Griffin layup at the 2:09 mark stopped the run. Elizabeth City State closed the first half with a 12-5 run to set the score at 47-37 in favor of Bowie State at the break.

Both teams shot the ball well in the first 20 minutes. Elizabeth City State made 15-of-27 from the field (55.6 percent) while Bowie State made 66.7 percent of their field goals (18-of-27), which included 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) beyond the arc.

Bowie State opened the second half with a 22-7 burst to take a game-high 19 point lead (65-46) by the 12:09 mark and maintained a double-digit lead until Elizabeth City State made one final push.

The Vikings trimmed the deficit down to 81-75 with 4:18 remaining, outscoring the Bulldogs 15-6 over a four minute stretch. However, the Bowie State defense clamped down and ended the game with an 8-2 run to seal the deal.

Bench scoring was huge for Bowie State as the Bulldogs outscored the opponents bench 51-9.

The Bulldogs will have four days off from competition before opening CIAA Tournament quarterfinal play as the #1 seed in the Northern Division.

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COURTESY BOWIE STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION