Feb. 3, 2004
Raleigh, NC - Last season it was CIAA Player of the Year Patrick Pope, this year it was CIAA Player of the Year frontrunner Desmond Peoples (Sr./F/6'7"/245/Clinton, MD). Peoples tallied a game high 25 points and pulled down 11 rebounds en route to St. Augustine's fourth straight win over the Rams. The 6'7" forward even hit his 1st three-point FG of the season as he led the Falcons to an 82-67 CIAA Western Division victory over Winston-Salem State University.
The Rams looked to be in good shape in the opening moments as back-to-back threes, one by Rashad McGee (Jr./G/5'10"/Waxhaw, NC) and one by Vince Sessoms (Sr./F/6'3"/Kinston, NC) gave WSSU the early 6-0 lead. However, no one could have predicted that the quick offensive outburst would be Sessoms' only points of the game, and that McGee would play only 16 minutes due to foul trouble and ball handling problems.
The Rams went from an offensive outburst to not being able to hang on to possession of the ball as 17 WSSU first-half turnovers led to countless easy buckets for the Falcons who graciously took a ten point margin into the locker room for halftime, leading 39-29.
The second half of play is where things went from bad to worse for the Rams as St. Augustine's started the second period with a 10-0 run to increase their lead to a comfortable 20 points at 49-29.
It took the Rams 3:48 to score a field goal in the 2nd half when an Alleggrie Guinn (So./G/6'3"/Charlotte, NC) jumper cut the Falcons lead to 18 at 49-31. However, by that time, the irreparable damage was already done.
For those in attendance, and those listening to the broadcast on the radio at home, visions of last season's 99-70 Falcon blowout started to come to mind. However, after the Falcons threw down five dunks and a thunderous alley-oop, the Rams snapped out of their funk and traded baskets with the Falcons, even out playing them for moments, for the remainder of the contest. The comeback would fall short, and WSSU was handed their fourth Western Division loss (7th CIAA loss of 2003-04).
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The Rams would have only two players in double figures as McGee recorded a team-high 13 points and six-time CIAA Rookie of the Week Audly Wehner (Fr./F/6'5"/Fayetteville, NC) tallied 10 points but was held without a single rebound for the first time in his career.
With the win, the Rams fall to 14-8 overall, 5-7 in the CIAA, and 3-4 in the Western Division while the Falcons improve to 15-6 overall, 8-4 in the CIAA and 5-2 in the Western Division.
The Rams return to action on Saturday, February 3rd, 2004 as they play host to the Golden Bulls of Johnson C. Smith University at the LJVM Coliseum at 8:00 pm.
