Feb. 15, 2009

Final Stats

PETERSBURG, VA- The Elizabeth City State Vikings overcame a seven point deficit in the final 3:32 of regulation to grab a 72-69 win at Daniel Gymnasium Saturday evening.

With 2:20 left to play, DeJuan Morrison connected on his second three-pointer in the second half to close the VSU lead to 66-63. After two Carl Ross free throws brought the Vikings to within a point, a baseline jumper by Anthony Hilliard with 49 seconds remaining gave ECSU their first lead of the second stanza. A subsequent miss and foul by the Trojans sent Jamier Bush to the line where he sank two free throws to extend the Viking lead to 69-66 with 24 ticks left.

Virginia State (10-17, 5-11) finally responded and ignited their home crowd when Harvey Mills drilled a three-pointer (his only basket of the game) with 20 seconds left. Unfortunately for VSU fans, another Trojan foul sent the Vikings back to the line where Jamal Rouse sank one of two shots to break the tie with 17 seconds to go. VSU had two more chances for a game winner but a jumper by Ricardo Lipscomb and a put-back attempt by J.C. Chaney both missed their mark and Trent Bivens sank two from the charity stripe with .4 left to solidify the victory for ECSU.

Hilliard scored 14 of his game high 30 points in the second half and added 16 rebounds for his 54th career double-double. Morrison finished with 16 points on 7-14 shooting while Bivens added 13 points.

Trey Mines topped the Trojans with 18 points while freshman standout J.C. Chaney notched a double-double of 15 points and 11 boards.

ECSU (19-6, CIAA 11-5) will close out their season series with Bowie State University on Tuesday, February 17th at 7:30pm at the RL Vaughan Center. For more information on ECSU Athletics, visit www.ecsuvikings.com.