On Jan. 15, Virginia Union scratched its way to a two-point victory over Virginia State. That gave Union a record of 8-10, a mediocre start to the season.
Thereafter, the Panthers reeled off wins in seven of their next eight games. One more victory and Union would take the CIAA's Northern Division title.
But Union's winning streak hit a speed bump Monday night. The Panthers were beaten 101-82 by Bowie State (20-5, 12-4) at Barco-Stevens Hall. It was Bowie State's largest margin of victory over Union.
"It's a bitter taste right now," senior Jamaal Blalock said. Bowie State, ranked 19th in the country, earned the Northern Division's No. 1 seed in the CIAA tournament. Union (15-12, 10-5) still gets the Northern Division's second seed and a bye in the first round.
For the first three minutes, Union's chances looked good. The Panthers jumped out to a 10-0 lead. But Bowie State clawed back and tied the game at 27 with 6:25 left in the first half. A pair of free throws from Byron Westmorland gave the Bulldogs a 29-27 lead just a few seconds later.
Bowie State never lost the lead. The Bulldogs scored the first 12 points of the second half and put the game out of reach by the 10-minute mark. By the time it was over, the visitors were finding clear paths to the basket and dunking with ease.
"We came out hot and cooled off the rest of the night," VUU coach Luqman Jaaber said. "I thought their energy increased and ours stayed the same."
Union big man Damion Harris went to the bench with two fouls in the first half. Without him, the Panthers weren't able to score much in the paint.
So they leaned on their shooters, and Jamaal Blalock kept them in the game for a while. He scored a team-best 13 points and was 3 of 7 from behind the 3-point line.
"I thought we settled a lot for jump shots," said Jaaber, who has emphasized all season that the 3-point shot shouldn't be a fundamental element to his team's offense. He said the offense was too selfish and didn't try hard enough to get to the basket.
Calvin Brown scored 11 points, and Juan Richards had 10 for Virginia Union. Harris scored eight in 24 minutes.
The 101 points scored by Bowie State were a season high. The Bulldogs shot 52.9 percent. Darren Clark scored 23 points, Jay Gavin added 20 and Travis Hyman scored 14.
"It seemed like they scored every time down the court," Jaaber said. He added that everything the scouting report said the Bulldogs would do, they did. And the Panthers still acted surprised.
In the end, Jaaber said, this game was just a minor aberration that his team should quickly forget about. He still feels the Panthers are about where they should be for his first season as coach.
"This game is gone," Jaaber said.
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