April Emory
February 18, 2009
The Vikings survived a furious, late charge by the Bowie State University Bulldogs for a 65-60 win Tuesday night at the R.L. Vaughan Center. Andrew Engel sparked the Bulldogs’ comeback by scoring all 17 points in the second half, including five three pointers. He followed his fourth three-ball of the half with a steal off the Viking inbounds and a lay-up plus a foul to pull the Bulldogs to within three point (58-55) with 1:23 remaining. The Vikings pushed the lead back to five (60-55) after an Anthony Hilliard lay-up with 31 ticks left. Engel nailed his final three of the night eight seconds later and BSU (14-12, CIAA 10-8) quickly called a time out. The Vikings caught a break after burning their final time out with 14 seconds left when the BSU defense lost DeJuan Morrison off the inbounds play for a stand-alone lay-up with 7 second to go and a 62-58 lead. The Bulldogs answered quickly four seconds later via a Curtis Massy lay-up. A Bulldog foul sent Mel Johnson to the free throw line where he missed both free throws but he rebounded his second miss, scored it and was fouled with .4 seconds remaining. Johnson completed the three-point play with the free throw attempt for the final point spread. Trent Bivens led ECSU with a team high 17 points while DeJuan Morrison chipped in with 11 points. The Vikings will close out the regular season with a televised game against Virginia Union University Saturday at 5 p.m. For more information on ECSU Athletics, visit www.ecsuvikings.com. In other news . . . The Lady Vikings didn’t fare as well as the Vikings. The Lady Bulldogs of Bowie State University placed four starters in double figures in a 72-63 victory over the Lady Vikings on Tuesday. With the win Bowie State (16-10, CIAA 14-4) captures the 2009 Eastern Division crown and secures a first round bye for the CIAA Tournament next week in Charlotte. The Lady Bulldogs took a commanding 15-3 lead to begin the game but a resilient Lady Vikings’ squad battled back to close the deficit to 31-27 at the intermission. BSU used an 11-0 spurt to push the lead back to double digits within the first few minutes and would maintain at least a nine -point lead for most of the of the second stanza. The Lady Vikings committed 26 turnovers in the game which led to 27 points for the Lady Bulldogs. Briana Glover scored a game high 20 points for ECSU while Joyce Freeman and Kearah Jefferys added 13 and 11 points, respectively. ECSU (6-20, 3-14) will close out the regular season with Virginia Union University Saturday at the RL Vaughan Center. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m. For more information on ECSU Athletics, visit www.ecsuvikings.com.
