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57th Annual CIAA Men’s Basketball Tournament
Friday, March 1, 2002
Johnson C. Smith Cruises Past Bowie State in Semis for Chance at CIAA Repeat
RALEIGH, NC – Johnson C. Smith University, the defending CIAA Men’s Basketball Tournament champions, will have a shot at a repeat after defeating Bowie State University 84-67 in the conference semifinals Friday night at the Entertainment and Sports Arena in Raleigh, NC.
Senior center Jamaal Young amassed a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds to top JCSU (22-6). Senior guard Antoine Sims added 19 points, including 4-of-9 from three-point range, to go along with 4 steals.
J. C. Smith’s stifling defense held the Bulldogs to 35 percent field goal shooting. “The key to tonight’s game was a lot of defense,” Sims said. “We knew that Bowie State likes to take a lot of 3’s. Our goal was to front the post and get out on the 3.”
Bowie State got on the scoreboard first with a jumper by Tim Washington at 19:01, but a three-pointer by JCSU point guard Earl Foreman put the Golden Bulls on top for the remainder of the game.
Washington led the Bulldogs with 23 points and eight rebounds. Omarr Smith shot well from behind the arc, connecting on 3-of-6 3-pointers and scored 17 points. All-CIAA forward Stephen Moss-Kelly was held to just four points while attempting just four field goals.
J.C. Smith held a slim 9-7 advantage at 16:27 when the Golden Bulls scored nine unanswered points to start a 15-2 run and take a 24-9 lead at 11:09 in the first half. JCSU shooting guard Sims nailed consecutive three-pointers to close out the stretch. Sims’ third triple of the first stanza at 6:13 provided the Golden Bulls with their largest lead of the half, 34-17.
With J.C. Smith holding the ball for the final shot of the first half, a steal by Bulldog guard Arthur Lewis led to a fast break lay-up by Cornelius McMurray with four seconds left to cut the deficit to 43-33 at the break.
The Golden Bulls hit 6-of-10 from long range in the first half, while Bowie State made just 4-of-11 (36.4 percent).
BSU got as close as eight points early in the second half, but JCSU pulled away courtesy of a 13-0 run to provide the Golden Bulls with their largest lead of the contest, 68-45, with 7:51 to play.
JCSU will play the winner of the Winston-Salem State/Shaw semifinal game at 8 p.m. Saturday night for the conference championship.