INSTITUTE, W.VA. – The Chowan Men's Basketball team suffered their first loss of the season despite the frantic comeback to fall 95-92 at the buzzer against West Virginia State on Sunday afternoon.

THE BASICS

FINAL | Chowan 92, West Va. State 95

RECORDS | Chowan 8-1, West Va. State 4-6

LOCATION | Institute, W.Va. (Walker Convocation Center)

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE

Gus Rowland posted a double-double with 23 points and 13 assists.  Timothy Bing scored 21 points, while Robert Grubbs (14) and Demetrius Sanders (13) scored in double-figures.

Chowan trailed 49-33 at intermission as WVSU went 7-18 from behind the arc in the first half.  The Hawks scored a season-high 59 points in the second half.

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Half:

West Virginia State jumped out to an early 8-0 lead before Demetrius Sanders put the Hawks on the board at the 16:48 mark.  Timothy Bing would add a pair from the charity stripe.

A bucket by Demetrius Sanders and Michael Kelly would close the gap to 12-9 at the media timeout.

Chowan continued to chip away at the deficit with Gus Rowland with a pair of freebies and a layup by Ugljesa Portic to close the gap to 14-13.

Robert Grubbs and Demetrius Sanders teamed up for a bucket to give the Hawks their first lead of the contest at 17-16.

WVSU went on a 14-3 run to regain the lead as Michael Kelly converted the old-fashioned three-point play during the offensive stall.

Gus Rowland posted a layup at the 5:22 mark to end the run.  The Yellow Jackets would push their lead to double-digits, 40-26, before Brandon Mayhan posted a layup and Gus Rowland knocked down a triple.

WVSU continued to maintain their double-digit advantage throughout the remainder of the first half as Chowan trailed 49-33 at the break.

Second Half:

Out of the intermission, Robert Grubbs put the Hawks on the board with a three-pointer.  Grubbs knocked down another triple and Ugljesa Portic tallied a put-back to trim the deficit to 57-43.

Robert Grubbs connected from deep again and Gus Rowland had a steal and a layup to force a WVSU timeout down 57-48.

Gus Rowland posted a layup to trim the deficit back to single digits, 59-50, at the 15:04 mark in the second half.  Michael Kelly and Robert Grubbs posted a bucket each to close the gap to 61-56.

The Yellow Jackets would push the advantage back to double-digits, 67-56, before Gus Rowland connected from the stripe for a pair.  Timothy Bing added a pair from the stripe and a layup to close the gap to 69-62, with 9:29 remaining.

Timothy Bing continued to even the scoring in the middle of the half with a pair of freebies and a layup.  WVSU knocked down a three-pointer to push the advantage back to double-digits, 77-67, forcing a Chowan timeout.

Demetrius Sanders notched a layup and Brandon Mayhan posted a jumper to keep the Hawks attacking.  Gus Rowland knocked down a triple, but WVSU continued to push the advantage back to double-figures, 84-74.

Layups by Gus Rowland and Timothy Bing cut the deficit to three, 84-81, with 4:31 remaining.  Demetrius Sanders notched back-to-back buckets to pull within one, 86-85, with 2:36 remaining.  Bing went 1-2 from the stripe to even the contest at 86-all.

WVSU pulled ahead with five quick points from the stripe to lead 91-86.  Timothy Bing converted from the stripe for three freebies to trim the deficit to 91-89 with 47 seconds remaining.  After a pair from the stripe by WVSU, Timothy Bing connected from deep to even the score at 92-all.

WVSU would score with one second left to hand the Hawks a 95-92 loss.

UP NEXT

Chowan will regroup over the holiday break and return to action on January 3, 2019 as the Hawks face Shaw in a CIAA cross-division contest.  Tip-off is at 7:30pm.