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The Blue Bears are the first team since
Johnson C. Smith in the 2008 and 2009
seasons to repeat as CIAA champions.
"This is probably the best feeling I've
ever had," said Mayo, an All-CIAA player
who was on both Livingstone champi
onship teams. "We did it. It means the
world right now."
Traynham and Mayo paced five dou
ble-figure scorers for the Blue Bears. All
CIAA Guard Eric Dubose scored 18 points
and guard TV Newman, the^tournament
MVP, scored 13 points. All-CIAA Center
Hakeem Jackson chipped in 10 points for
the CIAA champions, who shot 57.9 per
cent from the floor.
Four-time All-CIAA forward WyKevin
Bazemore Jed the Rams (18-10 overall)
with 24 points and AU-C1AA Rookie Team
guard Terrell Leach pumped in 23 points.
All-CIAA Forward Donta Harper scored
20 points for the Rams, who shot 51.7 per
cent.
Both teams split the regular-season
series and shared the Southern Division
title, but there was no doubt who was the
better team Saturday. The Blue Bears (19
9 overall) hurt the Rams inside in the first
half of the high-scoring affair. In the sec
ond half, the Blue Bears buried the Rams
with their 3-point shooting.
Bazemore tried his best to keep the
Rams in the game. He attacked the basket
with abandon in the second half, which led
to him making 16 of 20 free throw
attempts overall. However, the Blue Bears
had too much firepower in the end.
The Blue Bears flexed their muscle in
the paint as they outrebounded the Rams
37-24. They also canned 6 of 12 three
point attempts for 50 percent and hit 34 of
42 free throw attempts for 81 percent.
The Blue Bears outscored the Rams in
the paint (44-34), in bench points (44-27)
and off turnovers (30-16) which led to a
decisive win.
"This is a great day for Livingstone
basketball," Blue Bears' Head Cbach
James Stinson said. "The guys came out
with a purpose. I' loved their focus
throughout the game. Overall, they perse
vered and did the job at hand. When I
walked into the locker room, they were
fully tuned in to what the goals were."
The Rams put a brief scare into the
Blue Bears after Leach's 3-pointer cut their
deficit to 96-88 with 1:14 left. But the Blue
Bears finished with a 10-3 run to claim
their second straight crown.
Guard Dwight Williams of the Blue
Bears got the championship game off to a
rousing start. He blocked a shot in transi
tion, then dribbled coast-to-coast for an
emphatic one-handed dunk over a Rams'
player which left the Time Warner Cable
Arena crowd, especially the Livingstone
fans, buzzing.
"I feel I am pretty athletic and I was
able to take advantage of it [on the play],"
said Williams, who scored eight points.
"[My teammates] fed off of it and we won
the game."
His dunk jumpstarted the Blue Bears,
who went on a 20-9 run for a 24-13 lead on
Mayo's jumper. The Rams sliced their
deficit to single digits, but the Blue Bears
stretched the margin to double digits for
the rest of the half.
The Blue Bears established their lead
with 58.1 percent shooting and strong play
in the paint in the first half. They outscored
the Rams in the paint 28-8 and won the
rebounding battle 24-11.
The Rams didn't find much success
inside, but they stayed within striking dis
4
tance with their perimeter shooting. They
connected on five of 11 three-point
attempts for 45.5 percent including 3 of 3
shooting behind the arc from Leach.
It was Leach who gave the Rams a
spark right before halftone. He launched a
3-pointer behind the mid-court line, which
swished through the nets before the horn
sounded. The 3-pointer trimmed the Blue
Bears' lead to 46-36 heading into the
break.
Leach led all scorers with 14 points in
the first half for the Rams. Dubose and
Williams both scored 8 points for the Blue
Bears.
Despite the long-range three fnom
Leach, the Rams could not cany the
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half against a Blue Bears'
squad that had plenty of
depth.
"We can go deep into our
bench, and it has helped us
get over the hump by sys
tematically wearing teams
down," Stinson said.
Despite the Rams' hot
shooting. Head Coach James
Wilhelmi says the
Livingstone defense gave his
team fits early on.
"It was a 2-3 zone and it
did disrupt our flow early,"
Wilhelmi said. "We had a
couple of quick turnovers
and we were down eight.
From there, it was tough to
battle back. We never got
into a true flow."
Though winning back-to
back titles is a great feat, the
Blue Bears have more goals
in sight.
"We can celebrate
tonight but tomorrow, we have to get pre
pared to play in the national tournament,"
Stinson said. "Our ultimate goal is to get to
the Sweet 16 or Elite Eight. We want to
continue playing the way we have been
playing of late. We have to do the CIAA
some justice in getting the job done. The
team is starting to see what they can
achieve if they play together."
The All-CIAA Tournament team con
sists of Newman, Dubose and Mayo of
Livingstone; Harper and Bazemore of
Winston-Salem State; Joe Reid of Shaw,
Anthony Gaskins of Saint Augustine's,
Joshua Dawson and Anthony Beck of
Fayetteville State and Justin Beck of
Bowie State.
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