BOWIE, Md. – Bowie State shot a season-low 33 percent from the floor and tied their season-high of 23 turnovers, losing a heartbreaking 72-71 decision to the Washington Adventist Shock on Monday night in the A.C. Jordan Arena.
The win moves the Washington Adventist University record to 9-5 overall while the Bowie State University Bulldogs first semester record drops to 6-5 on the year. The Shock victory also snapped a BSU 21-game series winning streak over Washington Adventist/Columbia Union.
Washington Adventist was led by freshman Eric Lindsey (Churchton, Md.) with 20 points which included the game winning free throw with 1.2 seconds left in the game. Tyrus Fleetwood (Hackensack, N.J.) and Charles Allen (Washington, D.C.), came of the WAU bench to add 15 and 10 points respectively.
“We knew tonight’s game was going to be tough, but to turn the ball over 23 times and have them convert that into 31 points was our downfall”, said Bowie State head coach Darrell Brooks.
The Bulldogs held advantages in points in the paint (38-36), second chance points (13-8) and rebounds (51-43) However, the Shock converted BSU’s 23 turnovers into 31 points.
Bowie State was led in scoring by senior Carlos Smith (Baltimore, Md.), who finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, his third double-double of the season. Graduate student Brian Freeman (Clinton, Md.) recorded his third double-double of the year, adding 13 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Cameron Knox (Baltimore, Md.) tallied 11 points off the bench, while senior Ray Gatling (Oxon Hill, Md.) added 10 points and a career-best nine assists.
Washington Adventist held an early 4-0 advantage until back-to-back field goals by Smith tied the game at 4-4. The lead would change hands seven times in the first half with each team experiencing a four point lead twice.
Bowie State went into halftime with a 37-33 advantage, mainly on good free throw shooting. The Bulldogs knocked down 13-of-16 first half free throws (81 percent), but shot a chilly, 12-of-36 field goals, which included all eight 3-point attempts during the first 20 minutes of action.
Washington Adventist didn’t shoot well either in the first half, making 12-of-33 (36 percent) field goals, which included 4-of-12 behind the 3-point line.
The Bulldogs started the second half on 7-0 run to give the home team their first double-digit lead of the night at 44-33. Bowie State pushed their lead to a game-high 13 points at 56-43 following a pair of free throws by sophomore Andre Jackson (Owings Mills, Md.) at the 13:28 mark.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the Shock made a huge run over the next nine minutes, outscoring Bowie State 21 to 11, trimming the deficit to 67-64 after a traditional three-point play by Elliott Meredith (Bedford, Ohio) with 4:49 left in the non-conference contest.
Two free throws by the Shock’s Fleetwood cut the Bulldogs lead down to one at 67-66 a little over two minutes later.
Junior Cameron Knox (Baltimore, Md.) scored Bowie State’s only field goal over the final 1:09, which was a 3-pointer to give the Bulldogs a little breathing room at 71-66. In fact, the Bulldogs made just one other field goal over the final 9:40.
Calvin Lovitt (Capital Heights, Md.) drained a triple on the next Washington Adventist possession and a Lindsey free throw knotted the count at 71 with 22 seconds remaining in the game.
Following a Bowie State timeout, a Gatling 3-pointer was off the mark and during a mad scramble for the rebound, Lindsey was fouled with 1.7 seconds left on the clock. Lindsey missed the first of two free throws in the double bonus situation, but sank the final throw for the final score of 72-71.
The Bulldogs will break for final exams and return January 2nd to open conference play on the road at Livingstone followed by road games at Johnson C. Smith (1/4) and Winston-Salem State (1/6).
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