Men's Basketball 11/13/2018 9:40:00 AM

Men's and Women's Basketball to Open 2018-19 Home Slate in Doubleheader

Men play host to Winston-Salem State and the Women will play Puerto Rico Bayamon

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. – The Elizabeth City State University basketball teams will play host to their home openers on Wednesday, November 14^th. The men will start the doubleheader by playing Winston-Salem State University at 5:30 p.m. with the women to follow against Puerto Rico Bayamon at 7:30 p.m.

The ECSU men's basketball program started off the season at the Earl Lloyd Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association/Mountain East Classic at West Virginia State University last weekend. The Vikings split the two games played in West Virginia as they dropped the initial contest to West Virginia State, 89-82, but defeated the University of Virginia College at Wise, 80-60, to wrap up play. The Vikings are currently being led by Shyheid Petteway who is averaging 21.5 points per contest and Zaccheus Hobbs who is averaging 19.5 points per game. Hobbs is also doing his part managing the offense from the point guard position as he has registered 12 assists in two contests. Joseph Allen is pacing the rebounding effort for ECSU with nine rebounds per contest.

WSSU will open their 2018-19 campaign inside of the R.L. Vaughan Center on Wednesday night. The Rams finished the 2017-18 campaign with a 5-22 record and 3-13 in CIAA play. However, WSSU welcomes in new head coach Cleo Hill, Jr. who last led the Shaw University basketball program from 2008-15, where he led the Bears to a 116-67 record and guided Shaw to their first CIAA championship as well as an NCAA Tournament berth. There is considerable optimism for the Rams as they were selected to finish fifth overall in the conference preseason rankings and picked to finish runner-up in the CIAA Southern Division. The Rams return their leading scorer from a year ago in senior forward William Crandell who averaged 17.7 points per game.

After the men's game, the women will face off against Puerto Rico Bayamon in their home opener. The Lady Vikings traveled up to Erie, Pennsylvania to play in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference/CIAA Challenge hosted by Gannon University. The Lady Vikings played in two nail biters, splitting the two contests, dropping the first contest to Gannon in overtime, 91-89, and picking up game two to Slippery Rock, 80-79. ECSU was led by an even scoring attack as five Lady Vikings averaged in double figures for the tournament, led by Naterria Luster's 20-point average.

Not much is known about the ECSU opponent in Puerto Rico Bayamon. By all reports this will be their first contest of the season for the Division II Independent school. This will be the first time that ECSU will face off against Puerto Rico Bayamon in program history.

You can follow all of the action through the ECSU Athletics Twitter @ECSUVikings or follow the live stats from the game at ECSUVikings.com. Tickets are available for the contests.

Chick-Fil-A of Elizabeth City is a proud community partner/sponsor of Elizabeth City State University Athletics. On all home game days, Chick-Fil-A of EC will host "Mobile App Spirit Night", right after the game for two hours. Place an order on the Chick-Fil-A Mobile App and post #VikingPride in the special instructions section https://one.chick-fil-a.com/ . This is a fundraiser for ECSU Athletics Department after every home game. Also, Chick-Fil-A of Elizabeth City will be at every home game this season service food in the concession stand inside of the R.L. Vaughan Center.

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Players Mentioned

#22 Joseph Allen: C; 6' 8"; Junior

#0 Zaccheus Hobbs: G; 6' 0"; Sophomore

#21 Shyheid Petteway: G; 6' 2"; Senior

#22 Naterria Luster: F; 6' 0"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#22 Joseph Allen
: 6' 8"; Junior
: C

#0 Zaccheus Hobbs
: 6' 0"; Sophomore
: G

#21 Shyheid Petteway
: 6' 2"; Senior
: G

#22 Naterria Luster
: 6' 0"; Junior
: F