March 4, 2005

Final Stats

Raleigh, NC - The Rams of Winston-Salem State University and the Panthers of Virginia Union renewed their longtime CIAA basketball rivalry on Friday evening in Raleigh, NC with a berth in Saturday's CIAA title game on the line. The Rams would see their title hopes dashed as the Panthers handed them a 79-64 defeat in front of a sellout crowd at the RBC Center.

The first four minutes of the contest between the Rams and the Panthers could best be described as torrid. The two teams would head to the under-16-minute media timeout with the Rams holding a 17-16 lead after only 4:52 of action.

The Panthers and Rams would hit their first 13 shots (combined) without missing a field goal attempt as WSSU hit three two-point field goals and a trio of three-pointers with the Panthers answering with five two-point field goals and a pair of three-point field goals of their own, before WSSU's Darnell Gregory missed the first shot of the game nearly four minutes after the opening tip.

Over the span, WSSU's Alleggrie Guinn would record the first eight points for the Rams, much in the same way that he did in WSSU's win over VUU in the first meeting between the two teams that occurred on January 4th, 2005. Guinn connected on a reverse lay-up to start the contest, and then buried a pair of spot-up three-pointers to give himself and the Rams a quick eight points.

By the time that the two teams would get to the under-12-minute media timeout, both schools' shooting had cooled considerably as the Panthers and Rams settled into their half-court offenses, with the tempo of the game slowing exponentially.

The final five minutes of the half were unkind to the Rams as they would go 2:38 seconds without a field goal until Alleggrie Guinn broke the drought with his third three-pointer of the half.

However, over that span, the Panthers turned a one-point deficit into an eight-point advantage as they continued to hit nearly everything that they threw towards the basket.

As has been the case all season, an opponent could not keep the Rams down as Guinn would hit his fourth three-point field goal of the half with 31 seconds to play in the first half, cutting VUU's lead to only one.

The Panthers would again have an answer as All-CIAA forward Duan Crockett completed a three-point play only 28 seconds later, giving the Panthers the four-point margin that they would take to the locker room at halftime, leading 44-40.

The Panthers, who shot 60% from the floor during the first half, hitting 18 of their 30 field goals, would continue their hot shooting in the early moments of the second half as they benefited from several costly Ram turnovers which enabled them to increase their four-point lead to nine points at 55-46 with just over 13 minutes to play in the contest.

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The Panthers slowed the game down, using a deliberate ball-control offense, putting a premium on shot selection, and as a result were able to keep their lead at seven points, ahead 57-50, as the two teams headed to their benches for a media timeout with 11:29 left to play.

The nationally-ranked Panthers would come out even stronger following the television break as Virginia Union promptly went on a 6-0 run to push their lead to an insurmountable 15 points.

The 15-point margin is one that the Rams would never be able to overcome as WSSU's could never cut the VUU lead to less than 11 points en route to the 79-64 defeat.

Leading the way for the Rams was Alleggrie Guinn who tallied 17 points on the evening, leading three WSSU players into double-digits. Darius Hargrove led the Panthers with 21 points as he was joined by three players in double-figures.

With the loss, the Rams fall to 22-7 on the season, and will await Sunday evening's NCAA Division II Playoff selection show to see if they continue on to the NCAA National Playoffs. The Rams are currently slated to be the South Atlantic Region's fifth seed, and are virtual shoe-ins to receive an invitation to the playoffs.

The Panthers will advance to face the Broncos of Fayetteville State University in Saturday's Championship game as Virginia Union looks to earn their second consecutive CIAA title.

The Rams may get a chance at revenge in next weekend's NCAA Division II national playoffs as the two teams are slated (as of press time) to face one another in intra-region playoff action from the campus of Bowie State University.

For additional information on WSSU men's basketball, or to inquire about playoff seedings and opponents, contact the WSSU Office of Sports Information at (336) 750-2143 or log on to the Official Website of WSSU Athletics at www.WSSURAMS.com