Men Triumph in Overtime, Women Battle but Fall Short against Winston-Salem State
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- The Elizabeth City State University women's basketball team dropped a hard fought battle to CIAA rival Winston-Salem State on Monday evening by a 78-65 score. With the loss the Vikings drop to 11-7 and 4-4 in conference play.
The men's team once again battled back from a second half deficit to tie the game at 71 and force overtime before coming away with the 82-79 win. ECSU improves to 10-8 on the season and 6-1 in CIAA play.
Women's Game
Winston-Salem State started the contest on a 16-5 run over the first five minutes of the first quarter. The Vikings would chip away at the Rams lead to make the margin a seven-point deficit heading into the second quarter.
ECSU clamped down on defense in the second quarter and only allowed five points in the second ten minutes to WSSU. The Vikings used that defense to take a 29-26 lead into the halftime break.
Winston-Salem State came out of the halftime break and over the first eight minutes of the third quarter not only took back the lead but also expanded that lead to ten by the 1:48 mark left in the third quarter. Naterria Luster connected on back to back layups with under a minute to go to bring the Vikings to within four, 49-45, at the end of the third.
The Rams would outscore the Vikings by a 29-20 margin over the final ten minutes and pushed the final margin to 78-65.
The Vikings were led by Naterria Luster was 23 points, Jalyn Brown with 21 and Asia Deal with 11.
Men's Game
"Same story, different day" the old saying goes and for the Viking basketball team this rings true. After coming off a nail biter at Johnson C. Smith on Saturday afternoon, the Vikings would again face a late deficit at Winston-Salem State.
ECSU had already faced their fair share of adversity on the evening as sophomore Zaccheus Hobbs went down with a leg injury in the first half.
The Vikings fought through that adversity but still trailed by five with 4:23 left to go in the second half. Five straight made free throws from Shyheid Pettewaw, Jonari Hill and Corey Mendez would tie the game at 65. WSSU came back to outscore the Vikings 6-2 over the next 45 seconds to take a 71-67 lead with 1:11 left. John Maynor would get a crucial steal with 30 seconds left and would hit two free throws following a WSSU foul to bring the Vikings within two. Julius Barnes would miss two free throws with 26 seconds left and a Jonari Hill rebound gave ECSU the final possession of regulation. In that final possession the Vikings set up Justin Faison with a shot but Faison missed, however, Joseph Allen was there to gather the offensive rebound and would score off of a layup wth seven seconds left to tie the game at 71.
In overtime, the Vikings would go on a 5-0 run to lead 76-71 and take the lead for good. From that point, the Rams were not able to get any closer than three and the Vikings would win 82-79.
"First off, our thoughts and prayers are with Zaccheus Hobbs after his injury tonight. We played tonight with him in mind. My team showed a remarkable display of character tonight and once again they have left their coach amazed at their effort. We are growing steadily and our defense is swarming right now. I am very happy to get another conference road win tonight" ECSU head men's basketball coach
Shawn Walker said.
The Vikings were led by John Maynor with 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting, 5-of-9 from long distance. Shyheid Petteway notched 16 points and Joseph Allen scored 11 to pace the offensive attack.
Both teams will be off until Saturday afternoon when the Vikings will take the short trip up to Murfreesboro, N.C. to face off against Chowan University. Game time is slated for 2:00 and 4:00 p.m.