Box Scores vs. Virginia Union

MURFREESBORO - The Hawks battled back from two double-digit second half deficits tonight but it was the Virginia Union Panthers who would prevail in the end as they won 69-63. The Hawks saw deficits of 12 and 11 at two different points in the second period but battled with the Panthers to force them to play out of a tie.

The Hawks suffered their worst shooting  performance of the season as they hit just 34% of their shots taken from the floor in the game and leading scorer Aaron Scott was held to just six points in the outing.

Virginia Union went on a 17-6 run to get up by 17 points over the Hawks with just over six minutes minutes to play in the second half. Chowan answered and converted 13 points over the final six minutes to cut the Panther's lead to 39-29 at the half.

The Hawks went to work in the second half, slowing cutting into the Panthers lead. They tied the game at 50-50 at the 9:10 mark of the second half after Jaleel Nelson hit 2-2 from the foul line. VUU scored nine 11 points over the next three minutes to get back on top of the Hawks 63-52. Joe Brice nailed a three pointer at the 3:53 mark to pull Chowan within eight points. Lando Morrison cut the lead to seven points on the Hawks next trip down the floor after putting back a missed three pointer by Nate Walchuk . After a VUU turnover, Brice would drill another three pointer to cut the Panther lead to 64-60 with 2:38 to play in the game. Walchuk cut the game back to two points when he hit a three pointer with :57 to play in the game.

With :45 to play and trailing by two points, the Hawks fouled VUU's Gregg Thondique who missed both shots. Brice grabbed the rebound and headed down court to set up the Hawks' offense. With the shot clock running down, Chris Kenon's three pointer went off the rim and into the hands of VUU"s Branden McDonald. Braxton Byerson converted two fouls shots and a lay up at the buzzer to round out the game at 69-63 in favor of the Panthers.

Chowan's Mark Brown tallied a game-high 18 points on a 7-15 shooting performance. The freshman played solid for Chowan, grabbing five boards and getting two key blocks and three steals. Brice also ended up in double-figures with 11 points and was 3-4 from three point land. Layth Mansour had seven points and seven rebounds in the game while Jaleel Nelson had nine points.

For the Panthers Brandon Byerson had 17 points and brother Braxton Byerson had 15 points and nine rebounds.

The Hawks five game win streak comes to and end after tonight's loss. They now stand at 7-6 on the year. VUU moves to 6-3 overall. Chowan will travel to the Apprentice School in their next outing on January 13th.