Millersville, Pa. - The Bowie State University men's basketball team took home a thrilling 74-73 last second victory on Monday evening against Millersville University. The Bulldogs improve to 5-2 on the season with the win while the Marauders slip to 3-4 on the year with the setback.
Senior Zafir Williams (Philadelphia, Pa.) was the leader and hero, pumping in a career-best 23 points for the Bowie State. Senior Cameron Knox (Baltimore, Md.) added 16 points in the win while junior Justin Beck (Ellicott City, Md.) chipped in 11 points to go along with a team-high six rebounds.
Kelvin Parker paced four Marauder players in double figures with 19 points in the loss while Tyree Smith and Eddie Callender scored 17 and 14 points respectively. Parker was also Millersville’s leading rebounder with seven. Sam Light came off the bench to tally 10 points, which included 8-for-8 at the free throw line.
The first 20 minutes of action featured 12 lead changes and three ties with neither tea leading by more than six points. Millersville went 13-of-29 (44.8 percent) from the field in the first half while Bowie State made 15-of-32 from the field (46.9 percent).
With the Marauders trailing 49-47 with 12:11 left, Jalen Lester hit a three that gave Millersville a one point lead. The Marauders pushed its lead to as many as nine with 4:48 to go on Smith’s 3-pointer, which followed one from Parker.
Bowie State’s Williams, who shot a career-best 6-of-7 triples, provided the answer for the Bulldogs. He followed Smith's triple with one of his own, and after Callender’s bucket put Millersville in front 73-67 with 1:36 to go, Williams buried another three and was fouled in the process. He converted the four-point play to pull the Bulldogs to within two.
Millersville had a point-blank look from Callender swatted away by Andre Jackson, giving Bowie State possession with 40 seconds left. The Bulldogs' first look missed and the rebound was hauled in by Tommy Patterson, but a turnover gave the possession back to Bowie State. Callender blocked a Cameron Knox runner out of bounds with four seconds left. For Bowie State, the third chance was the charm. Knox found Williams off the inbound pass, and he drilled the three from the top of the key with 1.3 seconds left. Millersville last chance ended in a pass skipping out of bounds.
“The thing that makes me very proud of this (tonight) was we stuck together … With 1:36 left in the game we were down six and our guys never gave up”, said an elated Bowie State head coach Darrell Brooks. “Free throws were big for us (13-of-15) and we out-rebounded them (38-36). “Both teams made big shots and big plays but we just fortunate at the end to have the last shot.”
The Bulldogs return to action on Saturday, December 6th when they host Georgia Regents University - Augusta. Game time is slated for 2 pm in the A.C. Jordan Arena.
