Bowie State Bulldogs Mortify Chowan Hawks 78-62

MURFREESBORO, North Carolina – The Bowie State University men's basketball team won a key CIAA divisional game at Chowan University on Saturday afternoon, beating the Hawks 78-62.

Bowie State (15-10, 7-5 CIAA, 4-3 North) were led in scoring by seniors Justin Beck (Ellicott City, Md.) and Andre Jackson (Baltimore, Md.) with 18 and 17 points respectively. Jackson and Beck tied for team-high rebound honors with eight apiece. Senior Julian Livingston (Bowie, Md.) tallied 15 points on 5-for-9 shooting behind the 3-point line.

"It started for us on the defensive end … Chowan was averaging almost 80 points per game and we held them to 62, we did a great job on the boards and we were offensively efficient today", said Bowie State head coach Darrell Brooks. "We're starting play our best basketball going down the stretch and heading into the tournament and our guys really starting to understand their roles and flourishing"

Bowie State trailed early (4-0) but took a 7-6 lead at the 16:22 mark of the first half following a layup by Beck of the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs' lead moved to 23-17 by the 4:31 mark and used 37.1 percent field goal shooting (13-for-35) to take a 39-30 advantage into intermission.

The Bulldogs led by 13 points twice in the first 20 minutes and Beck led the team with a dozen points heading into halftime.

The second half started just like the first with Chowan scoring the first four points before a pair of Beck free throws stopped the short run. Bowie State used a 4-0 burst of their own to get a little breathing room at 44-36 at the 16:35 mark, forcing the Hawks to call timeout.

Chowan trimmed the Bowie State lead down to two 46-44 on a Carlos Arroyo (Mayaguez, Puerto Rico) only to see the Bulldogs go on a 12-0 run to take a 56-44 lead with just over 11 minutes left in the contest and never let the Hawks back into the game.

Chowan (17-7, 9-4 CIAA, 3-4 North) was led by Jeremy Smith (Kenansville, N.C.) with game-highs of 19 points and nine rebounds while Kortez Smith (Waldorf, Md.) finished with 10 points in the Hawks' loss.

The Bulldogs and Hawks will play again in 48 hours, this time on Bowie State's home court (A.C. Jordan Arena) on Monday (2/15) at 7 p.m.

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COURTESY BOWIE STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION