CIAA basketball roundup: Livingstone recovers to upset Chowan

Livingstone’s Blue Bears were in no hurry to panic Thursday in the CIAA tournament.

They overcame a nine-point deficit in the second half to upset Chowan 74-69 in the quarterfinals at Spectrum Center. Livingstone (11-16), the South Division’s No. 2 seed, blew a 14-point advantage in the first half, but responded by outscoring Chowan 14-5 over the final 3 minutes, 20 seconds.

“I told our young men to have the patience of Job and do what they had to do to execute, one basket at a time,” Livingstone coach James Stinson said.

The Blue Bears, who have advanced to four straight finals, moved a step closer to another by wearing Chowan (18-9) out on the boards 52-27. Livingstone sophomore center David Duncan outrebounded the Hawks by himself with a tournament record-tying 30, including 13 on the offensive end.

“I knew I had 10 at halftime,” said Duncan, who scored 13 points. “I thought I had 20 or 30. That’s even better.”

While Duncan dominated the boards, junior guard Cameron Burhannon paced the offense with 16 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Burhannon and Duncan accounted for nine of the Blue Bears’ final 14 points down the stretch.

Four Chowan players scored in double figures, paced by Carlos Arroyo’s 14 points and Jeremy Smith’s 13. Kevin Kuteyi and Tim Hewett added 12 points each for the Hawks, who connected on 43.1 percent of their shots (22-of-51) compared to Livingstone’s 39.7 percent (25-of-63). The Bears’ rebounding edge and 14-5 advantage in second-chance points were the difference.

“We started out fast for a change instead of starting slow and had a chance to execute, then toward the end of the half we started to fade,” Stinson said. “We had to regroup and get prepared for the second half. Chowan has a great team and [is] well-coached, so we had to do some things to mix them up.”

Fayetteville State 56, Shaw 49: The Broncos, seeded fourth in the South, rallied in the second half to knock off the South champion Bears with balanced scoring and a 40-29 rebounding gap.

Four Fayetteville State (12-15) players scored in double figures, with Joshua Dawson leading the way along with Michael Tyson’s 13 points and 10 rebounds. DeAngelo Stephens-Bell paced Shaw (14-13) with 17 points and eight rebounds, followed by Benji Bell’s 11 points.

Bowie State 84, Virginia Union 78: Omari George scored 24 points for Bowie State, which outscored No. 2 seed Virginia Union 51-45 in the second half for the upset.

Also in double figures for Bowie State: Ahmaad Wilson with 17 points, Michael Briscoe with 16 (and a game-high eight rebounds) and Dayshawn Wells with 13 points. Briscoe and Brian Kelley had six assists apiece.

CIAA Player of the Year Ray Anderson led four Virginia Union players in double figures with 23 points.

Virginia State 78, Winston-Salem State 66: Three starters, led by Elijah Moore with 16 points, scored in double figures for Virginia State. Moore also led both teams on the boards with 11 rebounds. Winston-Salem State’s Robert Colon led all scorers wth 21 points.

This story was originally published February 23, 2017 at 9:27 PM with the headline "CIAA basketball roundup: Livingstone recovers to upset Chowan."