Box Score Winston-Salem State's hope of becoming the first Rams team to defend its CIAA Championship since the 1999-2000 season ended in a 71-59 loss to Virginia Union in the semifinals of the 76th CIAA Tournament. 'SU jumped to an early nine-point lead at Baltimore's Royal Farms Arena, but an 11-0 run before halftime enabled the Panthers to take an eight-point lead to the locker room.
Javonte Cooke led the Rams in scoring with 15 points. Cameron Campbell added 14, and Samage Teel scored 13. Jonathan Hicklin hit five of six free throws and finished with nine points. He led the Rams with eight rebounds.
The Rams opened the game on a hot streak and led by nine at the 13:24 mark in the first half. The Panthers would outscore 'SU 21-5 in the final minutes of the half and early in the second half to gain a 14-point lead with 17:09 to play.
WSSU cut VUU's lead in half on two Cooke free throws with 3:03 on the clock. Union responded with a layup and free throw to increase its lead to 10 with 2:42 to go. Cooke's three-pointer pulled the Rams to within nine with 1:21 to play, but that was as close as the Rams would come.
'SU shot 38.3% (18-47) for the game and 36.8% (7-19) from the three-point line. The Rams hit 16of 19 free throws for 84.2%, while the Panthers only connected on 17 of 31 free throws for 54.8%. VUU dominated the boards, outrebounding the Rams 45-26. The Panthers collected 24 offensive rebounds while WSSU could only manage nine. The Rams were outscored 30-14 in the paint.
WSSU, the CIAA's Southern Division champions, finished the season 19-7.
