Clutch free-throw shooting the stretch enabled the Virginia State Trojans to survive a furious Bowie State rally and come away with a 78-72 victory in the men’s quarterfinal of the CIAA Tournament Wednesday night at CFG Bank Arena.
Virginia State junior point guard Jacob Cooper and senior guard Kendall Bynum combined to sink four free throws in the final 24 seconds after Bowie State cut the lead to two twice on a pair of baskets by senior point guard Elijah Davis, who led all scorers with 25 points.
“In that situation, (Bowie State) is trying to foul and come down and hit a three and if you miss one or two of those free throws, you can really swing the game, but fortunately for us, we have guys who are pretty good free-throw shooters. We’ve shot them well all year long. ” Virginia State head coach Lonnie Blow Jr. said during his post-game press conference. “We made enough to keep [Bowie State] at bay a little bit. Those free throws were really big for us late in the game. ”
Both Cooper and Bynum were a combined 19-of-20 from the charity stripe for the game.
Virginia State (19-8) will take on Fayetteville State (22-7), who beat Virginia Union 69-66 in Wednesday’s other quarterfinal, in Friday’s CIAA men’s semifinal.
For most of the game, the Trojans held double-digit leads over the Bulldogs and led by as many as 13 points early in the second half.
But Bowie State, thanks to their full-court pressure defense, managed to chip away at the Virginia State lead and cut under double-digits permanently thanks to a pair of free throws by Amare Wimbush and a three-point bucket by junior guard Justin Morrisey to pull the Bulldogs within 63-57 with 6:19 left in the second half. Another basket by Morrisey cut it to four with 5:53 left.
That bucket gave Bowie State enough momentum to eventually make it even closer late in the game. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, it wasn’t enough to put them over the top. Head coach Darrell Brooks said he was proud of his team’s effort in the loss.
“If we had that sense of urgency to guard in the last minute in the first half, we would have been in a better predicament and probably had the lead,” Brooks said. “They’re a lot of things, we could have done a little bit better, but again I can’t away from the fact of how proud I am of these guys. There were situations where they could have folded, but they didn’t.”
Bowie State ends its season at 16-14.