2024 Food Lion CIAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament: Day 1 Recap
Baltimore, MD- Bowie State and Winston-Salem State faced off on Monday evening to officially commence the 2024 Food Lion CIAA Tournament. The game was a story of two stars, Bowie State’s Jayla Irvin and Winston-Salem State’s Amaya Tucker who led their teams to a thrilling opening matchup. The game came down to the wire, however a late and-1 by Tucker propelled Winston-Salem to a first-round victory, clinching a spot in the next round.
Amaya Tucker led the way for Winston-Salem State with 25 points on an impressive 8-11 shooting, also adding four rebounds and four assists. For the Bulldogs, Irvin poured in 24 points of her own, to go along with five rebounds and three steals.
Winston-Salem advances onto the next round and will take on Johnson C. Smith on Tuesday, February 27 with tip-off slated for 4:30 P.M.
Bluefield State scored the first six points of the game with five coming courtesies of Jordan Hinds. Hinds (nine) and Travon Cooper (four) accounted for all 13 of Bluefield State’s points as they lead the Falcons 13-12 at the 13:46 mark. Five quick points from St. Augustine’s helped them gain their first lead, 15-13 at 13:19, but just twenty seconds later a tough layup by Hinds retied the game. After a two-minute dry spell Rylan Bowers was the third Big Blue player to register a bucket to help Bluefield State retake the lead 17-15.
Over the next six minutes SAU would use a 13 to zero run to establish some momentum to have a 28-17 advantage with 3:19 left in the first half. Jawan Browder scored half of the Falcons points (16) as they would go into the break with a 10-point lead at 32-22 and firm control by holding Bluefield to only one three pointer on five attempts when they averaged 7.6 game.
The Big Blue came out of the locker room on a mission as just as the first half Hinds scored the first four points from the foul line and Cooper hit a euro step layup this was the start of an 13-3 run to start the second stanza tying the game at 35 with 12:30 left in the game. The teams would be evenly matched as they would trade baskets, but Bluefield State would hold a two-point advantage 41-39, at the under 10 media timeout.
Both teams would get cold as at the five-minute mark the Big Blue would hold on to a one-point lead at 43-42. Jordan Love would hit a tough layup through contact to swing the advantage back to SAU, 44-43 with 4:10 left. A pair of foul shots by Ja’Mere Redus put the Big Blue back on top, 46-44 at the 2:44 mark. A three-pointer by Browder made it 49-48 with 32 seconds left and the Big Blue missed the ensuing foul shots with the Falcons obtaining the ball. SAU had a look at the game winning shot, but the layup was strong off the rim with Bluefield State grabbing the rebound and hitting the one foul shot to secure the 50-48 win.
Jordan Hinds was the MVP for the Big Blue scoring 24 points, grabbing seven rebounds and collecting two steals. Bluefield State will play the Winston-Salem State Rams at 10 AM in the Quarterfinals on February 28.
