WINSTON-SALEM, NC -- Winston-Salem State freshman WyKevin Bazemore scored a career high 14 points and pulled down a game high eight rebounds, as the WSSU Rams fought off a valiant Virginia State Trojan basketball team, 56-43 in the CIAA opener at the CE Gaines Center on the Winston-Salem State campus.

With the win, Winston-Salem State moves to 8-2 overall, 1-0 in the CIAA Southern Division.  Virginia State falls to 1-11 overall, and 0-1 in the CIAA's Northern Division.

The Rams led from start to finish, but it was far from an easy win, as Virginia State was in the mindset for an upset.

WSSU would race out to an early 10 point advantage, but scrappy Trojans would use a stifling zone defense to pack the middle and force the Rams to try to beat them from the outside.

After racing to the 13 point lead, Virginia State would make a run in the final moments of the first half, to cut the Rams' lead to 32-26 at the half.

Winston-Salem State came out cold in the second half, and VSU would try to make a game of it, cutting the Rams' lead to one on three different occasions before a Ricky Perry, Jr and Lamar Monger's three point shots propelled WSSU to some breathing room midway through the second half.

With seven minutes remaining, WSSU would go on another run, led by a Monger three, as well as a Kimani Hunt three, and back to back plays by Wykevin Bazemore would stretch WSSU's lead back out to eight points.

WSSU's Marcus Wells would hit a three pointer with 3:47 left, and after a miss by the Trojans, Lamar Monger would come right back down the court with a driving layup to push the lead to 11.

As has been the case in WSSU's wins this season, the Rams bench outscored the Trojans 23-11 and outrebounded VSU 32-29.

For the night, the Rams attempted a season-high 27 3-pointers and made eight of them.

Bazemore led WSSU with 14 points and 8 rebounds, while Marcus Wells added 12 points, 8 rebounds, and four assists.  Lamar Monger chipped in nine points and three rebounds, and Justin Glover added six points and four rebounds to go with two assists and two steals.  Ricky Perry, Jr also scored six points.

 "I think it was a game of runs and we made the last stand," says Bobby Collins, WSSU head coach.  "We had some guys make some big plays for us tonight.  WyKevin Bazemore was one of those guys made some big plays for us tonight, and I thought we were just solid down the stretch," added Collins.

"This was a great team effort by our guys," added Collins.  "This is what we are going to see in the conference, tight zones, and Virginia Union will be ready when they come in here on Saturday.  We have to maintain the level of consistency with some tough games coming in the next few weeks."

Winston-Salem State University will host the Panthers of Virginia Union on Saturday evening, at 7:00pm in the CE Gaines Center.