Claflin Men's Basketball Falls to Virginia State

Claflin Men's Basketball Falls to Virginia State

Bookmark and Share

Orangeburg, S.C. – Danny Brown came off the bench to score a game-high 18 points, 13 coming in the second half, but it was not enough as Virginia State University defeated Claflin University, 77-68, in a Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) game at the Tullis Arena on Wednesday (Jan. 16).
 
The loss ended a two-game winning streak for Claflin, now 6-10 overall and 5-6 against fellow CIAA teams.
 
Triston Thompson posted an all-round solid performance with 14 points, six assists and two steals.
 
Brandon Davis came off the bench to contribute 12 points and seven rebounds, while Cornellius Reynolds had eight points and eight rebounds for Claflin.
 
Romero Hill added nine points for the Panthers.
 
Virginia State, ranked 5th in the latest D2SIDA poll, was led by Andrew Corum with 17 points and nine rebounds.
 
The Trojans improved to 14-3 overall and 6-0 against CIAA teams with the road win.
 
Virginia State used a 7-1 run to close out the first half and opened the second half with a 9-4 run in gaining separation from the Panthers.
 
The first scoring run broke a 26-26 tie at the 2:06 mark of the first half and provided Virginia State with a 33-27 halftime lead.
 
The second run gave Virginia State its first double-digit lead of the game at 42-31 with 15:17 left in the contest.
 
Over the next 10 minutes of the second half, Virginia State increased its lead to 63-48, outscoring Claflin 21-17.
 
The Panthers did manage to outscore the Trojans 20-14 over the last 4-1/2 minutes of the game behind the shooting of Brown.
 
In the first half, the contest was close the first 18:36 with six ties and nine lead changes. The largest advantage during that period was four points by Virginia State on several occasions, the last being 16-12 with 9:51 to go.
 
Virginia State maintained the momentum over the remainder of the half, owning the six point lead at intermission.
 
Both teams shot the ball well in the first half as Claflin was 10-of-24 (41.7%), while Virginia State faired a little better at 14-of-29 (48.3%).
Claflin will travel to Livingstone College on Saturday (Jan. 19) for the first of four straight road games. The contest will follow with games at Fayetteville State University (Jan. 21), Johnson C. Smith University (Jan. 28) and Benedict College (Jan. 31).