PETERSBURG, VA. – The Chowan Men's Basketball team dropped a tough fought contest against nationally ranked Virginia State on the road in CIAA Northern Division action on Saturday afternoon.

THE BASICS

FINAL | Chowan 61, Virginia State 70

RECORDS | Chowan 8-13 (3-9), Virginia State 20-3 (10-3)

LOCATION | Petersburg, Va. (Multipurpose Center)

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE

Robert Grubbs led the Hawks with 21 points on 6-7 shooting from behind the arc.  Gus Rowland and Demetrius Sanders notched 14 points and 10 points respectively.  Rowland tallied seven assists and five steals on the night.

Trevis Buckhanon scored nine points and hauled in six rebounds.  Buckhanon also posted three steals.

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Half:

Virginia State jumped out to a 15-7 lead in the first 10 minutes of action.  Robert Grubbs tallied the first basket for the Hawks trailing 7-0 early.  Demetrius Sanders produced a jumper along with a free throw by Gus Rowland.

A quick 6-0 run by the Trojans pushed the advantage to 23-7 before a triple by Robert Grubbs and a jumper by Trevis Buckhanon ended the threat.

Robert Grubbs tallied five straight points to close the gap to 27-16 with just under three minutes to play in the opening half.

The Hawks would trade points with the Trojans to end the half trailing 37-25.  Dino Muminovic knocked down a triple along with a three point play by Trevis Buckhanon.  Gus Rowland scored three points during the run.

Second Half:

Chowan started the half on an 8-3 run as Robert Grubbs knocked down a trey to start the half.  Grubbs added another three and a tip in by Trevis Buckhanon trimmed the deficit to seven, 40-33, with 17 minutes to play.

Back-to-back baskets by Demetrius Sanders closed the gap to six, 46-40, but a three at the other end pushed the deficit back to nine.

The Hawks would rally to trim the Torjans' lead to one, 49-48, with an 8-0 run.  Demetrius Sanders started the run with a jumper.  Gus Rowland knocked down a three and an old-fashioned three point play to close the run.

The Trojans pushed their lead back to six, 56-50, midway through the half.  The Hawks would get four points from the charity stripe until Tim Hewett knocked down a jumper with 6:14 left to cut the deficit once again to two, 58-56.

Chowan fought the score back to just one on two separate occasions but the Trojans ended the game on an 8-0 run to take the victory, 70-61.

UP NEXT

Chowan returns home to face Johnson C. Smith on Monday, February 12.  Tip-off is at 7:30pm.