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57th Annual CIAA Men’s Basketball Tournament
Thursday, February 27, 2002
Bowie State Holds Off Late Bronco Charge for First-Ever Semifinal Appearance
RALEIGH, NC – Fayetteville State University made a late charge at Bowie State University, but it was not enough as the Bulldogs edged the Broncos, 66-63, in second round action of the CIAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at the ESA in Raleigh, NC.
Bowie State (20-7), the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Division, earns its first-ever semifinal appearance and will play Western Division champion Johnson C. Smith on Friday at 7 p.m. This is also the first 20-win season in Bulldogs basketball history.
BSU led by 12 points (55-43) after Stephen Moss-Kelly sank two free throws at 8:54 of the second half. Fayetteville State then went on a 15-6 run to cut the Bulldog advantage to 59-58. Bronco forward Kenny Haywood opened the streak with 5 points and guard Willie Thomas ended it with 8 points, including his second three-pointer at 3:45 to bring FSU to within one point.
Moments later, Thomas struck again by hitting his third triple to give the Broncos a 63-62 advantage at 1:20, their first lead since the game’s opening basket.
Bowie State responded quickly with a fast break slam by Tim Washington, the only field goal for the Bulldogs in the final 12:54, to put BSU back on top 64-63 at 1:10. BSU’s Jamal Shivers and Cornelius McMurray each hit 1-of-2 from the foul line to push the lead to 66-63 with 16.2 seconds left.
FSU had one last chance at completing the comeback, but Christon Simmons had the ball knocked away and into the backcourt as the game ended.
“Fayetteville State is a great team and we knew they were going to make a run,” said BSU head coach Luke D’Alessio. “We just had to hang tough, survive and move on.”
Fayetteville State got on the board first with a baseline jumper by Simmons 30 seconds into the contest, but after a three-pointer by Bowie State’s Moss-Kelly at 18:50 the Broncos never enjoyed another lead.
Moss-Kelly’s fourth triple of the first half at 13:15 started a 13-2 Bulldog run that concluded with a thunderous dunk by Tim Washington to make the score 29-13 at 5:28, which was Bowie State’s largest advantage of the first stanza.
BSU’s Omarr Smith hit a 19-foot jumper as the first half buzzer sounded to provide the Bulldogs with a 37-22 lead at intermission.
In the first 20 minutes of play, the Bulldogs hit 46 percent of their three-point attempts (6-for-13), while FSU made just 1-of-9 from long range (11 percent).