A shift in attitude did wonders for J.C. Smith Saturday.

The Golden Bulls opened their CIAA stretch drive with an 83-75 win against South Division rival Fayetteville State at Brayboy Gym, playing with the purpose that has eluded them for most of the season.

The victory evened J.C. Smith's record at 9-9 and 4-4 in league play, but most importantly, kept them in the division mix.

"Coach said we needed more attitude and that's where the intensity came from," said center Dalonte Boyd, who scored a season-high 19 points and pulled down 11 rebounds in a reserve role. "We're coming around. We're going to pick the intensity up."

"We had a meeting of the minds," Golden Bulls coach Steve Joyner said. "We just asked everybody to stop making excuses, up their efforts and come out of the locker room as a unit and they did that tonight."

Boyd had his best game of the season, connecting on 8 of 12 shots and presenting a viable inside option for leading scorer Trevin Parks, who broke the 1,000-point barrier with a 28-point effort.

Forward Antwan Wilkerson added 13 points, primarily on drives to the hoop, and 11 rebounds. J.C. Smith hit 28 of 57 shots (49.1 percent) including 10 of 19 in the second half to keep Fayetteville at bay.

"We focused on getting the ball inside and that's where the points came from," Boyd said.

Tim Plummer led Fayetteville State (4-11, 2-5 CIAA) with 17 points and John Herrington added 11 off the bench for the Broncos, who closed to within five points late, but couldn't stop J.C. Smith's momentum.

"Fayetteville is a very aggressive team," Boyd said. "Coach told us to use their aggressiveness against them..."

J.C. Smith started slowly, but pulled ahead 15-14 on a pair of Wilkerson free throws and pushed its advantage up to as many as 11 before the break.