WSSU Lady Rams Give Great Effort in 64-56 Loss to #11 Livingstone

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina -- The Winston-Salem State Lady Rams (7-13, 3-7 CIAA) gave the #11 Livingstone Blue Bears (20-0, 11-0 CIAA) all they could handle in a hard-fought 64-56 loss, Saturday evening. Though the Lady Rams took the loss, the team was never short on fight as they staged a furious second half rally against their only ranked opponent of the season.

After struggling in the first half, the Lady Rams gave a stellar second half effort that saw the team outscore the Blue Bears, 46-36 in the second half. However, the Lady Rams could not overcome their toughest first half of the season as they managed just 10 first half points. As a team, the Lady Rams shot 31.4% from the floor, including shooting 9.5% (two-of-21) in the first half of the game.

WSSU senior forwards Dionna Scott and Jovanah Graham led the way for the team with 12 points each in the game. Redshirt-senior guard Taylar Wells added 12 points off the bench as well. Sophomore forward Jasmine Carter pulled in a team-high eight rebounds as well.

The Lady Rams gave a great effort in the early going of the game when a Graham jumper at the 14:25 mark, left the Lady Rams within one point of the Blue Bears, 6-5. However, the jumper marked the last field goal of the half for the Lady Rams. For the remainder of the half, the Lady Rams managed just five more points in the half, all from free throws and took a 28-10 deficit into the locker room at halftime.

The second half turned out to be a much different story as the Lady Rams clawed their way back into the game with a great offensive showing. For the half, the Lady Rams shot 46.7% (14-of-30) from the floor in the half. The Lady Rams kicked things off with an 11-4 run that included a three-point barrage from Edwards and Wells. Edwards hit a pair of three-pointers while Wells added one of her own during the run. The effort cut the WSSU deficit down to just 12 points, 33-21 with 16:15 left.

The Lady Rams were able to get their deficit down to single digits when junior forward Jeri Craine hit a lay-up at the 10:39 mark that pulled the Lady Rams within striking distance, 42-34 with 10:39 left. The lay-up capped an 11-6 run by the Lady Rams. Things got really interesting for the Lady Rams when sophomore center Sha'Quira Palmer hit a jumper at the 8:26 mark that pulled the Lady Rams within four points, 42-38 with 7:48 left to play. Unfortunately, the effort turned out to be a last stand for the Lady Rams as the team allowed Livingstone to push its lead back to double-digits after a 10-2 run by the Lady Rams that left the team trailing, 54-40 with 3:49 left to play. The Lady Rams made their last stand in the final minutes of the game when Edwards' fourth three-pointer of the game pulled the team within six points, 60-54 with 00:48 left to play. However, the connected on four free throws and held the Lady Rams to just one lay-up for the remainder of the game to seal the tough loss.

The loss marked the Lady Rams' first loss to Livingstone since 2007. After the tough loss, the Lady Rams won't have long to relax as they will return to the road for their next action as they take on the Virginia Union Lady Panthers in Richmond, Va. For more information on Lady Rams basketball, contact the WSSU Office of Athletic Media Relations at (336) 750-2143 or log on to www.WSSURams.com.

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Abbes earns another singles win in XU loss

NOUR ABBES

NEW ORLEANS -- Nour Abbes produced a dominating victory at the top women's singles flight Saturday, but she was the lone Xavier University of Louisiana player to score in a 6-1 loss to Tulane at City Park/Pepsi Tennis Center.

Abbes, a sophomore and the NAIA's top-ranked singles player, defeated Naz Karagoz 6-0, 6-2. It was the 32nd victory in 33 singles decisions for Abbes.

Tulane (5-0) won the doubles point with victories at the second and third flights, and the Green Wave dropped a collective six games in the other five singles matches.

Abbes and Carmen Nelson were still on the court with a tie at 4 against Karagoz and Sade Atkinson when Tulane clinched the doubles point.

Xavier (1-1) is ranked third in the NAIA. It was the first of six dual matches for the Gold Nuggets this season against NCAA Division I opponents.

"Tough matchup for us today," XU coach Alan Green said. "Doubles play was decent but we could get better there. Nour had a good match and won convincingly."

The Gold Nuggets will play twice at home next weekend -- noon Saturday against Belhaven and noon Sunday against LSU-Alexandria. Xavier's next men's dual will start at 6 p.m. Friday at Louisiana-Lafayette.

NOTES: Green said he added to the schedule men's and women's duals against Northwestern Ohio. Those will be played March 29 during XU's trip to California, but venue and time have not been determined. Northwestern Ohio's women are ranked 19th in the NAIA, and the men were 12th in the 2014 postseason poll.


Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director 
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ETSU Riley’s heroics spark dramatic 61-59 win over N.C. Central

JOHNSON CITY, Tennessee --  Senior guard Jalen Riley (Racine, Wis.) scored the final 12 points and finished with a game-high 24, as the ETSU men’s basketball team closed on a 15-1 offensive run to cap a dramatic 61-59 comeback win over North Carolina Central Saturday evening inside Freedom Hall.

Riley hit the game-winning 3-pointer with 13 seconds left in regulation, and the Bucs defense then held the Eagles on their final offensive possession of the game. With the win, ETSU improved to 13-8 on the season while also snapping the Eagles 10-game winning streak. With the loss, North Carolina Central dropped to 16-6 on the year.

“That’s a huge win – one that we may look back on a few weeks from now and really say that one was big,” said ETSU head coach Murry Bartow, whose team snapped a two-game losing streak. “That’s what Jalen can do. He can make some really big shots and he did that tonight. (North Carolina Central) is a really good team, a NCAA tournament team. That’s a great win.”

The Bucs trailed by double digits throughout most of the second half and were facing a 12-point deficit at 58-46 with 5:44 left in regulation. At that point, sophomore guard Devin Harris (Tampa, Fla.) made three of four free throws on back-to-back possessions, and Riley hit a 3-pointer to make it 58-52.

N.C. Central’s Anthony McDonald then made one of two at the foul line before Riley closed the game with nine straight points, including the game-winning 3-pointer. The Eagles had one last opportunity to tie or win, but the Bucs forced N.C. Central’s Karamo Jawara to force up a desperation 3-pointer that missed the mark at the buzzer.

For the game, Riley was joined in double figures by junior forward Lester Wilson (Knoxville), who finished with 10. The Eagles got a team-high 22 from McDonald, while Jordan Parks and Jawara netted 14 and 10 points, respectively.

The Bucs opened the first half with a pair of 3-pointers from Wilson and A.J. Merriweather (Jackson) to take an early 6-0 lead. ETSU’s advantage then grew to seven at 10-3, but at that point N.C. Central went on a 10-0 run of its own to grab a 13-10 edge. The Eagles went on to ultimately build a 10-point lead at 30-20 with five minutes left in the half.

ETSU used a 6-0 run to get to within four at 32-28, but a 3-pointer by Karamo Jawara at the first half buzzer made it 35-28 at the break. In the first half, N.C. Central shot 54 percent from the field and held an 18-14 advantage on the glass.

In the second half, the Eagles opened with a 7-0 run to take their largest lead of the game at 42-28. ETSU responded with its own 7-0 spurt to get back to within seven, but later on N.C. Central still led by 10 at 56-46 with 7:42 left in regulation.

The Eagles’ advantage then grew to 58-46 before the Bucs started their comeback.

ETSU finished the game with a season-low four turnovers, shooting 36 percent from the floor and holding its own on the glass, as the Eagles held a 34-33 edge in the paint.

N.C. Central finished the game shooting 46 percent from the floor and 44 percent from the 3-point line. The Eagles’ 50 percent effort (6-of-12) at the foul line was critical to the outcome, especially late in the contest when the Eagles went 1-of-4 at the charity stripe over the last two minutes of the game.

The Bucs will be home again to take on SoCon foe Wofford on Thursday night, with tip set for 7 p.m. inside Freedom Hall. For more on ETSU men’s basketball throughout the 2014-15 season, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the men’s hoops link.

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Norfolk State comes back to defeat Hampton U. 63-60

NORFOLK, Virginia --Hampton University again put itself in position to win, and again late game details haunted the Pirates.

Norfolk State stars Jeff Short and RaShid Gaston made critical plays in the final minutes to carry the Spartans to a 63-60 win Saturday at jam-packed Echols Hall in a typically fierce matchup between the rivals.

“We’re snake-bitten right now, but we’ll get through it,” HU coach Ed Joyner Jr., said. “We’ve got the month of February. We’re going to get better and we’ll be OK.”

The Pirates (8-13, 4-5 MEAC) dropped their fifth consecutive conference game, their longest losing streak since Jan. 1999.

“Everybody hurts,” Pirates’ guard Deron Powers said, “but I think we’re still pushing toward our goal at the end of the year, and that’s to win the MEAC championship, and that’s not over.”

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SC State Bulldogs hold off DSU Hornets 78-74 in MEAC Play

ORANGEBURG, South Carolina -- The South Carolina State Bulldogs avenged its early season loss with a, 78-74, victory over Delaware State Saturday (Jan. 31) at Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center.

"It was a great win tonight and I would like to thank the fans and all loyal Bulldog supporters for coming out tonight," said SC State head coach Murray Garvin. "Anytime you play a good team like Delaware State, one of the better teams in the conference it's going to be a dog fight.


The Bulldogs had four players in double figures with freshman guard Edward Stephensleading the way with a team-high 21 points, five rebounds and four assist. Sophomore guard Greg Mortimer tossed in 13, while junior forward Darryl Palmer fell one rebound shy of a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.

Freshman forward Tashombe Riley added 10 points and four rebounds in the victory. SC State controlled the boards majority of the game out-rebounding Delaware State 44-39, while shooting 12-of-24 (50%) from the free-throw line.

All-MEAC forward Kendall Gray finished with the games only double-double with 21 points and 16 rebounds, while senior guard Amere May tossed in 22 and guard Kendall Williams added 20 in the loss.

SC State led Delaware State by as many as 14, 56-42, late in the second-half before the Hornets sparked a 15-4 run off three-pointers by May, Williams and senior forward Tyshawn Bell to cut the lead to three, 60-53 with 5:10 remaining.

A dunk by Gray with 0:17 seconds remaining pulled the Hornets within two, 76-74, but free-throws were the deciding factor down the stretch with Riley connecting on a pair from the charity stripe to seal the 78-74 victory.

"Our guys are finally having fun and playing Bulldog basketball, so things are finally turning around for us and it feels good to be 6-3 in league play at this point," said Garvin.

SC State returns to action on Wednesday (Feb. 4) against St. Andrews College in a non-conference matchup at Smith –Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center. Tipoff is 7 p.m.
 
For more information on South Carolina State University basketball, please call the Office of Athletic Media Relations at (803) 536-7060, or visit the official Bulldogs website.

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WSSU turns back Livingstone 89-80

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina -- Winston-Salem State got a little revenge on Livingstone with a hard-fought 89-80 win at Joel Coliseum on Saturday night.

The Rams lost to the Blue Bears in last year’s CIAA championship game, but balanced scoring and better defense in the second half put them over the top.

“We talked about getting revenge all week,” guard Kerry Campbell of the Rams said. “This was a big win for us and we turned it up in the second half. Our defense was a lot better and that was a big key.”

Another key was the play of Donta Harper, who scored 20 points in 26 minutes. Harper, an undersized center at about 6-5, used his quickness to go right at the Blue Bears — and for one stretch in the second half, Harper couldn’t be stopped.

“I was just taking what the defense gave me and found some openings,” said Harper, who was 7 of 15 from the field. “We needed a win like this in the division because they were in first place.”



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Letters: Beating the drum for HBCUs

DENNIS RICHARDSON JR.
Contact Dennis Richmond at 
dennisrichondjr@gmail.com

ORANGEBURG, South Carolina -- My name is Dennis Richmond Jr. and I am a 19-year-old African Diaspora Studies major with a minor in mass communications matriculating at Claflin University in Orangeburg. I am a native of Yonkers, New York, and a 2013 graduate of Riverside High School.

As one of my mentors, Professor Patricia Koger of South Carolina, would say: I am “beating the drum” for college education across the Lower Hudson Valley and Harlem. The Journal Newspaper mentioned me as did Jet in its magazine as I am executing an initiative about HBCUs. The initiative is important since many New York residents in Westchester do not know about Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

I received a call from Dr. George Cooper, executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs. I will be working with the White House during this effort. I have also raised the funds to create a short documentary about the HBCU experience and I am beginning a web series to discuss the modern-day college experience with hundreds of students on the campuses of Claflin University and South Carolina State University.

I started down this path because I know that in Westchester County, many students do not know about HBCUs, as the schools are not a part of the Northern experience. The atmosphere in New York tolls the bells for SUNYs, CUNYs and community colleges, where as in the Southern areas of the United States, there are more than 100 HBCUs. Unfortunately, since the 1980s, many HBCUs have been closing their doors and are continuing to do so. Students are not applying to attend HBCUs due to lack of interest and receiving a misguidance that most are party schools.

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