Falcons Soar Over Rams 99-70

Raleigh, NC -The two-hour trip to Raleigh, NC turned into a nightmare for the Winston-Salem State University Rams as soon as they stepped on the court in Emory Gymnasium on the campus of St. Augustine's College Tuesday evening.

The Falcons would score on their opening possession on a thunderous dunk, and the rout of the Rams would commence enroute to a 99-70 defeat. WSSU tied the score on a Robert Lee lay-up to knot the game at 2-2, and that is the last time the game would be tied.

The Rams gave up 20 baskets in the first half to the Falcons, and of those twenty field goals, 16 were either lay-ups or dunks as St. Augustine would lead by as many as fifteen points in the first half. The fifteen point deficit would come with 1:30 remaining in the first half of play as the Rams would never lead in the contest. A Ram jump shot with just over three seconds to play cut the half-time deficit to 13 points with the Falcons holding a comfortable 49-36 lead.

The Rams were outsized by the Falcons and their pair of 6'9" towers on the low blocks, and as a result the Rams were handily out-rebounding during the contest. Unable to get second chance points was the Rams downfall as the Falcons outscored the Rams on put-backs 24-6 overall.

The second half would get no easier as the Falcons slowly built their lead during the half, eventually leading by as many as 33 points midway through the second half of play.

Despite the outcome, Kassim Richardson had a season-best 18 points in the contest on 7-11 shooting from the floor, and added seven rebounds (3 offensive, 4 defensive) in 21 minutes of work off of the bench. Juston White also turned in a solid offensive performance as he tallied 15 points on five of six field-goal shooting. The Rams offense was not the problem as WSSU turned in a solid shooting game, connecting on 27 of 58 field-goal attempts in the contest for a shooting percentage of 46.6%.

It was the Rams usually staunch defense that let WSSU down. Not only did the Falcons out-muscle the Rams in the post, but out hustled the Rams to loose balls. The defensive lapse led to St. Augustine shooting an astounding 65.6% for the game (60.6% first half; 70.4% second half) and allowing the Falcons to connect on 39 of 60 shot attempts.

Leading the way for the Falcons was All-CIAA First-Team member Patrick Pope who tallied 22 points, 20 of which came in the second half, as he led four Falcons in double figures. Jay Chapman hit 8 of his 11 field goal attempts en route to his season-high 20 points, and the Rams were victim to the most lopsided loss in over seven years.

With the loss, the Rams fall to 5-7 overall and 2-2 in the CIAA. The Rams will return to action on Thursday as they travel to Mars Hill College for a non-conference contest, and then return home to the friendly confines of the CE Gaines Center to take on Livingstone College on Saturday at 7:30 pm as the Rams return to CIAA league action.