Box Score MURFREESBORO, NC- The Chowan University men's basketball team earned their fifth straight victory on Saturday afternoon in a 65-62 CIAA Northern Division win over Bowie State University. The Hawks improve to 11-12 on the year and 5-8 in the league while the Bulldogs move to 12-12 overall and 6-7 in the CIAA. Chowan's win over Bowie State marked the first victory over the Bulldogs in the Helms Center, stunned the reigning CIAA Tournament Champions.
Phoenix Butler-Poole led all players in the contest with 26 points in the victory. He also hauled in 13 rebounds (two offensive, 11 defensive).
Kortez Smith and
Ashante Ross added 14 and 12 points respectively. Ray Gatling paced the Bulldogs with 22 points in the loss while Andre Jackson added 10 to help the cause. Cameron Knox tallied a team-high nine rebounds (one offensive, eight defensive).
The Hawks and Bulldogs battled at the start of the first half, matching each other bucket for bucket. A three-pointer by Butler-Poole at the 15:14 mark gave the Hawks an 8-7 lead. Chowan maintained in control of the score for the remainder of the first half. Smith's three-pointer with five seconds on the clock allowed the Hawks to enjoy a four point (33-29) advantage heading into halftime.
Chowan built their lead to as many as 10 points (45-35) with 14:25 left in the game. The Bulldogs refused to go down easily and fought their way back to tie the score 54-54 with 5:32 remaining on a made free throw by Gatling. Another made free throw by Gatling on his next opportunity gave Bowie State their first lead of the half. With the Hawks trailing 62-58 and 2:08 on the clock, a three-pointer by Ross brought the Hawks within a mere point of their opponent. Ross followed with a lay-up to put Chowan in the lead 63-62 at the 1:20 mark and a lay-up by
Tiron Brown in the final 12 seconds secured the 65-62 victory for the Hawks.
Chowan returns to the Helms Center on Monday when they host Virginia State University. The CIAA Northern Division match-up is slated to begin at 7:30pm.
