INDIANA, Pa. – It was a hard-fought battle for the #8 Winston-Salem State University men's basketball team as the host #1 IUP defeated the Rams 52-50 Saturday night in the NCAA DII Atlantic Region First Round at the KCAC Arena.

The Rams finished the season 21-9, while IUP moved to 31-9.

Samage Teel led the Rams with 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Jaylen Alston finished with ten points, while Jaylon Gibson scored nine points and seven rebounds. DyQuavis Wilkins added seven points and Jaylin Parker dished in six points.

IUP opened the game on a 6-1 run before DyQuavis Wilkins hit a three to bring the Rams within two with 17:23 to play in the first half. The Rams took the lead on a jumper from Samage Teel with 16:52 to go. WSSU increased its lead to nine, 17-8 with 10:46 remaining in the half. Going into the final media timeout the Rams led by three, 21-18. Then, with 2:15 to play IUP tied the game at 21-all and eventually took the go-ahead lead going into halftime (27-25).

IUP opened the second half leading by five, 34-29. A huge three from Xavier Fennell brought the Rams within four and then another three from Jaylin Parker with 9:01 on the clock brought the score to 44-41. After exchanging baskets back-and-forth, the game was tied at 46-all with 2:56 left in the game. Down to the wire the game went and tied at 50, the Rams called their last timeout to draw up a play and look to get a stop on defense. With two seconds on the clock, IUP's Tomiwa Sulaiman hit the winning basket for the Hawks and took the game 52-50.