Dec. 13, 2003

Richmond, VA - The Winston-Salem State University Rams had their seven-game win streak snapped on Saturday night in Richmond, VA by the Virginia Union University Panthers in what was an epic battle between two very good basketball teams.

The Rams came into the Arthur Ashe Center winners of their last seven games, while the Panthers were riding a five-game win streak of their own. It would all come down to free throws however as the Panthers connected on 29 of 36 free throws and the Rams took only 20, successful on 13 of those attempts, in a 58-55 loss to VUU.

The game was not without fireworks, as Virginia Union University Head Coach Dave Robbins would be ejected in the contest after receiving his second technical foul arguing over a referee's decision.

The Rams, down by ten points at the half, shot only 37% from the field in the game and received very little point production from their guards in the contest. Alleggrie Guinn (So./G/6'3"/170/Charlotte, NC) was held scoreless for the first time in his Ram basketball career and Rashad McGee (Jr./5'10"/185/G/Waxhaw, NC) tallied 11 points, six coming from the free throw line late in the contest, to turn in the most impressive perimeter game for the Rams.

Despite the struggles from the wing, the Rams were able to get it done inside as Audley Wehner (Fr./F/6'6"/215/Fayetteville, NC) continued his stellar play tallying a team-high 17 points. He was joined by teammate Terris Sifford (Jr./F/6'4"/195/Celeveland, NC) who chipped in with 10 points in the loss.

The Rams would find themselves down ten points, when McGee would get WSSU back into the game. He would hit six straight free-throws and immediately steal the inbounds pass to help the Rams earn another easy bucket cutting the lead to one point and give the Rams a chance to sneak out of the Ashe Center with a win.

However All-CIAA guard Luqman Jaaber (Jr./G/5'9"/170/Richmond, VA) playing with the flu, calmly hit a pair of free-throws and Darius Hargrove (Jr./F/6'4"/225/Richmond, VA) added two more points to his game-high 23 (10-13 from the free-throw line) to put the Panthers back up by three. The Rams shot at the buzzer found the back of the iron, and the Rams would fall in defeat to what many CIAA insiders say is the best basketball team in the conference.

With the loss, the Rams fall to 7-2 overall (1-1 CIAA) and the Panthers improve to 6-0 (1-0 CIAA).

The Rams return to action in back to back games on Monday December 15th and Tuesday December 16th. The Rams will take on Augusta State on Monday and Wilberforce on Tuesday. Both games will be in the CE Gaines Center in Winston-Salem, NC at 7:30 pm.