Bowie State Drops 81-75 Decision to West Virginia Wesleyan

FAIRMONT, W.Va. - The Bowie State University Bulldogs dropped their second straight game of the young season, falling 81-75 to the Bobcats of West Virginia Wesleyan University on the final day of the Joe Retton Classic on Sunday afternoon.  The Bulldogs dip to 0-2 with the while the Bobcats even their record at 1-1.

Sophomore Andre Jackson (Owings Mills, Md.) came off the bench to lead the Bulldogs in scoring with 16 points while senior Ray Gatling (Oxon Hill, Md.) added 13 points. Senior Carlos Smith (Baltimore, Md.) grabbed a game-high nine rebounds and added seven points and two blocks.

Junior Cameron Knox (Baltimore, Md.) scored 10 points to go along with two rebounds and two assists, followed by senior David Golladay (Upper Marlboro, Md.) and sophomore Justin Beck (Baltimore, Md.) with eight points apiece. 

West Virginia Wesleyan’s T.J. Thompson (Kingwood, W.Va.) led the Bobcat scorers with 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting.  Brett Ervin (Clarksburg, W.Va.) and Chris Dewberry (Detroit, Mich.) scored 17 points each.  Ervin grabbed a team-high five rebounds for the Bobcats in the win.

The Bobcats jumped out to an early 8-2 lead before the Bulldogs answered with a 6-0 run for the games first tie. Bowie State took its first lead (11-10) at the15:14 mark of trey by senior Donald Williams (Hyattsville, Md.).

The Bulldogs took its largest lead of the game at 16-13 on a Knox triple only to have the Bobcats regain the lead following a pair of free throws by WVW’s Thompson. A 3-pointer by West Virginia Wesleyan’s Soren Dossing (Copenhagen, Denmark) gave the visitors on the scoreboard a four point advantage.

Following a Bobcats turnover, back-to-back Bulldog layups by Gatling and Beck, knotted the score for the fourth time in the first 20 minutes, this time at 20-20.

However, a 9-0 burst by the Bobcats (all 3-pointers by Dewberry) gave West Virginia Wesleyan all the momentum they needed and a 48-38 halftime advantage.

The Bobcats drilled 10 (of 16) first half 3-pointers and took a 48-38 lead into intermission. On the flipside, the Bulldogs went 1-of-11 beyond the arc but made all 15 of their first half free throws.
 

West Virginia Wesleyan started the second half missing their first three 3-point attempts but found the range after that, knocking down six of the next 11 long range jumpers. The Bobcats lead ballooned to 21 points (69-48) at the 11 minute mark of the second half and remained at double digits until the Bulldogs made one last run.

The Bulldogs defense turned up the heat and used a 23-7 run to pull within three at 76-73 with just under a minute to play in the game. Jackson was personally responsible for 12 of the points during the final run.

Other than a layup by West Virginia Wesleyan’s Taylor Price (Morgantown, W.Va.) with 39 ticks left on the clock, the rest of the points by both teams for the remainder of the game were via the charity stripe.

In terms of team stats, West Virginia Wesleyan ended the contest shooting 52 percent from the field (12-of-52), which included 16-of-30 (53 percent) beyond the arc and 73 percent (11-of-15) at the free throw line.

The Bulldogs shot 46 percent (24-of-55) from the field (14-of-25 in the second half) and 91 percent (21-of-23) from the free throw line. Bowie State held advantages in points in the paint (36-18), points off turnovers (23-11) and rebounds (33-27).

Bowie State returns to the hardwood on Wednesday (November 13^th) at Cheyney University in their next outing.  Tip-off for the Bulldogs and Wolves is slated for7:30pm in Cope Hall.