Final Stats

courtesy of www.theciaa.com

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Joshua Dawson led the way with 18 points and forward Jason Lee posted a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds as Fayetteville State opened with a 7-0 run and never looked back in thumping Elizabeth City State 69-39 in a CIAA Tournament men's basketball first-round game at Time Warner Cable Arena on Tuesday.

With the victory, the Broncos, seeded fifth in the Southern Division, advances to Wednesday's second round game where they will face Chowan, the No. 4 seed in the Northern Division, at 6:40 p.m. The Broncos (13-14 overall) lost the regular-season meeting between both teams 80-76 but enter the second round full of confidence after dispatching the Vikings, who the Broncos defeated by two points in an earlier matchup this season.

"We are going to rest and turn our focus to Chowan," Dawson said.

The Broncos started Tuesday's contest by going inside to forward Michael Tyson, and it set the tone for the rest of the game. Not only did Tyson score the game's first four points on two layups, he opened the perimeter for the Broncos' shooters and helped Lee make his presence inside.

"We had established an inside threat," FSU Head Coach Alphonza Kee said. "That helped us get open shots."

Dawson, the Food Lion MVP of the contest, swished a three-pointer for a 7-0 lead and the rout was on. Carl McCray added two treys for a 16-4 lead in favor of the Broncos before a full five minutes elapsed. The Vikings chipped away at their deficit, pulling within 24-17 on two free throws by Clayton Cowell, but the Broncos ended the first half on a 12-7 run to expand their lead to 36-24 by halftime.

The second half was more of the same as the Broncos continued to pour it on the Vikings. Three straight three-pointers - including two by Dawson - expanded their lead to 52-30 at the 11:57 mark. From that point, it was simply a matter of what the final score would be. The Broncos outscored the Vikings 33-15 in the second half.

The Broncos had their way with the Vikings, topping them in every major statistical category including field goal percentage (45.1 to 24.5), three-point field goal percentage (41.2 to 10.0) free throw percentage (80.0 to 59.1) and rebounds (41-26). Juwan Addison added nine points and Tyson scored eight points for the Broncos, whose 30-point win was their largest margin of victory this season. The 39 points scored by the Vikings is the lowest point total by a Broncos' opponent this season.

Nothing went right for the Vikings, who never recovered from their sluggish start. Miykael Faulcon scored 13 points but no other Viking had more than six points. The second half began promising enough for the Vikings when Faulcon drained a three, but the Vikings (9-15 overall) suddenly found themselves down by more than 20 points.

"I really felt we would get back in the game," Vikings' Head Coach Alico Dunk said. "We have played from behind a lot this year, and one thing we have prided ourselves on is playing hard. We didn't get any breaks tonight."

Unlike the Broncos, who developed offensive balance in the paint and the perimeter, the Vikings struggled to get the ball inside and took long-range jumpers which far too often missed their mark.

"Tonight was tough," Dunk said. "We couldn't put the ball in the basket."