CHARLOTTE, NC -- For the second consecutive game, the Winston-Salem State University battled until the end, but came up short, as the Rams fell to the Johnson C. Smith Golden Bulls, 76-70 on Monday night in Charlotte.
With the loss, the WSSU Rams fall to 15-4 overall, 7-2 in the CIAA and 1-2 in the Southern Division. Johnson C. Smith moves to 10-9 overall, 5-4 in the CIAA, and 3-0 in the division
After a quick start by the JCSU Golden Bulls, the WSSU Rams were able to survive the early onslaught of three pointer by JCSU's James Otey, and took the lead that they maintained midway thru the first half.
But Johnson C. Smith would regain the lead on a pair of free throws with nine minutes to go in the first half and were able to keep the cold shooting Rams at bay.
With 7:38 to go, JCSU pushed their lead to four, and followed that with back to back fast break baskets to give the Golden Bulls an eight point advantage at 28-20 with just 7:00 left in the half.
The Golden Bulls would outscore WSSU 20-11 coming down the stretch of the first half, and were able to take a 40-31 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Rams shot just 37.5% in the first half on 12 of 32 shooting, and committed six first half turnovers.
As the second half got underway, both teams were able to get the ball in the hoop, however, the WSSU Rams would turn the ball over and it allowed JCSU to build its largest lead of the night of 13 points at 46-33.
However the Winston-Salem State Rams settled down and slowly began to chip away at the Golden Bull lead highlighted by a 8-0 run led by Kimani Hunt's three point shooting and a Justin Glover breakaway dunk.
JCSU pushed their lead back to a 12 advantage at 57-45 with 9:16 to go, but once again the Rams defense would get them back into the game and after a Marcus Wells three point shot, pulled to within 3 points at 67-64 with just over 2:00 to play.
But WSSU could not get over the hump , and eventually succumbed to the Golden Bulls down the stretch.
The WSSU Rams had four players finish in double figures led by Marcus Wells with 14 points. Justin Glover and Kimani Hunt both dropped 13 points, followed by WyKevin Bazemore with 10 points and seven boards. Hunt also pulled down 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.
Trevin Parks scored led all scorers with 25 points, while Delonta Boyd finished with 19 points and nine rebounds. Antwan Wilkerson chipped in 14 points and eight rebounds and James Otey added 12 points.
The WSSU Rams will return to action on Saturday night when the team heads to nearby Salisbury, N.C. to take on the Livingstone Blue Bears. For more information on Lady Rams basketball, contact the WSSU Office of Athletic Media Relations at (336) 750-2152 or log on to www.WSSURams.com.
