VIRGINIA UNION WITHSTANDS JOHNSON C. SMITH RUN TO ADVANCE
February 26, 2004
RALEIGH – Virginia Union University withstood a fierce comeback by Johnson
C. Smith University to hang on for an 82-73 victory in the quarterfinals of
the CIAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at the RBC Center in Raleigh, NC.
Virginia Union All-CIAA guard Darius Hargrove scored a game-high 28 points,
shooting 8-for-21 from the floor and 9-for-10 from the charity stripe. Ralph
Brown amassed a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Arthur
Kidd added 12 points for Virginia Union (23-4).
Johnson C. Smith (16-13) posted four starters in double figures, topped by
John Fulton and Chris Clyburn with 18 points apiece. Fulton also grabbed a
game-high 16 rebounds. Jerome Givens scored 16 points, while Willie Martin
tallied 16 points and 10 boards for the Golden Bulls.
“ We’re just glad to advance,” said VUU head coach Dave Robbins. “I
thought we played to win in the first half, and I thought we played not to lose
in the second half. We were very passive and had a lot of people in foul trouble.
That caused us not to be very aggressive. Being the good team that Johnson C.
Smith is they took the lead, but I was very pleased that we hung in there and
got a tough win.”
Virginia Union opened the game with a 17-7 lead when Hargrove nailed a three-pointer
at 14:39. A jumper by John Rabb pushed the margin to 26-12 at 9:22, the Panthers’ largest
cushion of the first 20 minutes.
JCSU cut the deficit to seven points twice, but a triple by Hargrove at the
buzzer gave the Panthers a 42-29 advantage at the break.
VUU took control early in the second half, increasing the lead to 60-41 on
a Hargrove jumper at 13:53.
Moments later, the Golden Bulls went on a 22-2 run to capture a 65-64 advantage
on a Clyburn bomb at 6:21.
After three ties and two lead changes, VUU’s Hargrove converted a pair
of free throws at 3:08 to knot the score at 71-71. A jumper by Brown at 2:26
put the Panthers on top 73-71, followed by an old-fashioned three-point play
by Luqman Jaaber at 1:22 to provide a comfortable 75-71 cushion. VUU was a
perfect 6-for-6 from the foul line in the final minute to seal the victory.
“ It was a tough beginning tonight,” JCSU head coach Stephen Joyner
said. “It certainly seemed that Virginia Union was better prepared and
they were very aggressive on defense. Once we made the adjustment to play a little
harder, that negated Union’s aggressiveness and we got them back on their
heels in the second half.”