Bulldogs Men's Basketball Knocks Off Rival Lincoln (PA) 78-73
BOWIE, Md. - The Bowie State Bulldogs' men's basketball ground out a tough 78-73 home women versus Lincoln (PA) on Saturday afternoon inside the A.C. Jordan Arena and improved its season mark to 11-8, 7-1 in league play and 1-0 in the Northern Division.
“I’m really happy because it’s a rivalry game, emotions were high on both teams and it brought out the biggest crowd (1,362) we’ve had this year’, said Bowie State Head Coach Darrell Brooks. “Early on our guys were a bit skittish offensively but we settled down and stayed the course after they made a run.”
Juniors David Belle and Juwan Smith paced the Bulldogs with 17 and 16 points respectively. Junior Saiquan Jamison notched another double, this time with 13 points and 14 rebounds while fellow junior Cameron Hayes added 13 points off the bench.
The game featured 13 ties and 10 lead changes. Neither team shot particularly well from the field as Bowie State made 25-of-54 (46 percent), which included 8-of-18 behind the 3-point line. Compare that to Lincoln’s 28-of-72 from the field (39 percent), that included just 2 of-13 beyond the arc. The Bulldogs made 20-of-29 free throws (69 percent) compared 15-of-21 (71 percent) by the Lions.
The Lions outscored the Bulldogs 46-18 in the paint, scored 21 points off 19 Bowie State turnovers and had 17 second chance points.
However, Bowie State was able to hold down a rebound advantage (43-39) and had nine blocks on the afternoon.
The first 20 minutes of play saw five ties with Bowie State leading by seven (9-2) at the 17:06 mark only to have Lincoln (Pa.) roar back with a 7-0 run to create the games’ first tie at 9-all. Bowie State held a 19-16 advantage at the midway point of the first half and pushed its lead to 27-21 with 5:53 left in the half.
Lincoln closed the half with a 10-4 run and went into the break knotted at 31-all.
Dequan Williams hit a pair of free throws at the start of the second half to give the Lions their first lead of the game before buckets by BSU’s Belle and Jamison shifted the lead back over to the Bulldogs.
Back-to-back layups by LUPA’s Tamir Green and Cameron Campbell put the Lions back in front at 43-40 at the 14:53 mark.
Over the next four minutes Bowie State answered with a 16-3 run to shift the lead back over to the Bulldogs at 56-45 following at 3-pointer by Elijah Epps with 10:40 left in the game.
Lincoln (Pa.) battled back with a 15-4 run to creates the games’ 11th tie at 60-60 after a pair of Williams free throws at the 6:57 mark but Bowie State answered with an 11-5 run to give the Bulldogs the lead (71-65) they would not relinquish for the remainder of the contest.
Green torched the twine for a game-high 25 points to go along with a game-high six assists to lead Lincoln (PA) (11-8, 4-4 CIAA, 0-1 North). Williams recorded a double double for the Lions, scoring 17 points to go along with 12 rebounds.
Bowie State will be idle before returning to action on Wednesday (January 23rd) hosting the Panthers of Virginia Union at 7:30 p.m.
