Champions crowned on Charm City stage
Lincoln men win 1st title; Fayetteville State women claim 5th crown
Lincoln University men’s basketball trailed for most of its matchup against Fayetteville State in Saturday’s CIAA Tournament championship game at CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore.
But not when it counted.
The Lions (17-13, 11-7) proved their resilience in crunch time, outscoring the Broncos 12-9 in the last 3:56 to capture the program’s first conference tournament title, 54-51.
Lincoln split the conference crown with Hampton and Howard in 1915, but there was no tournament then. The Lions were in the CIAA final last season but lost to Winston-Salem State.
Ethan Garita led Lincoln with 15 points. Fayetteville State’s Caleb Simmons led all scorers with 21 points.
The biggest play of the game came with 1:30 left. With Lincoln leading by two, freshman guard Chase Jackson hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 47-42 and made the Lions’ bench erupt.
“Chase hit probably the biggest shot of his life so far with the shot clock running down,” Lincoln coach Jason Armstrong said. “I went with him in the second half because my gut just told me to put him in. It was a huge 3.”
Fayetteville State (18-13, 11-10) managed to narrow the lead to
49-51 on a free throw by Coleman with nine seconds left, but the Lions were able to run out the clock.
“Wow! Last year I came up here after we lost and I told you we’d be back,” guard Reggie Hudson said. “We’re back, and we’re champs;
and we’re not done dancing.”
Fayetteville State was the aggressor early, using a jumper by Simmons with 4:49 left to take its largest lead of the first half, 17-10.
Lincoln responded, using backto-back baskets by Garita and another by Manny Toha to cut
the deficit to 17-16 with 3:01 left in the half.
The teams traded baskets down the stretch as Fayetteville State took a slim 21-20 lead into the break.
The Broncos did most of their damage in the first half near the basket, where they recorded a 14-6 advantage in points in the paint and an 18-11 advantage on the boards. Simmons led all scorers with seven points at the break, and Lincoln never led in the first half.
“We just all focused up and said we had to do a better job getting rebounds, and when we make a stop, we have to complete the stop,” said Lions center Peter Sorber, the tournament Most Valuable Player. “We ended up losing the rebounding battle by 13 [37-24], but we were much better in the second half.”
Lincoln took the lead, its first of the game, on a 3-pointer by Bakir Cleveland to start the second half. The teams played relatively even through the middle of the half, with neither having more than a five-point lead.
The Lincoln defense began to assert itself with 7:12 left. After Coleman hit a free throw to make it 40-35, the Lions held the Broncos scoreless for 3:16.
For Fayetteville State coach Luke D’Alessio, the loss was a learning experience for his team.
“I thought it was a terrific game. Both teams really wanted to win, and both competed down the stretch,” he said. “They made the plays that needed to be made down the stretch. Proud of my guys. We would have liked to have won the game, but they gave me everything they had.”
Fayetteville State women secure 5th title
In a battle of who would blink first, it was the Fayetteville State women who carried the day.
The Broncos outscored defending champion Elizabeth City State, 20-16, in a hectic fourth quarter to take the CIAA Tournament
title with a 64-59 win at CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore on Saturday.
Keayna McLaughlin, the game’s Most Valuable Player, led the Broncos with 17 points. The Vikings were led by 16 points from Alanis Hill.
The championship is the fifth for Fayetteville State, which last won the title in 2020. The Broncos earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
“It’s a blessing,” coach Tyreece Brown said. “It’s always tough to win championships. I’m so proud of this group.”
Fayetteville State won the title despite being outrebounded 49-30. No team had more than a six-point lead at any point in the game.
The Vikings made the first run. With Fayetteville State leading 9-7, Elizabeth City State got back-to-back 3-pointers by Isa Banks and Rasheka Simmons and then two free throws by Jania Thompson to take a 15-9 lead with 2:12 left in the first quarter.
The Broncos responded, going on a 10-4 run of their own keyed by a layup-and-one by McLaughlin to tie the score at 19 with 5:50 left in the half.
Elizabeth City State hit right back, scoring six of the next eight points to retake the lead at 24-21 with 2:21 left. Fayetteville State scored the next seven points, keyed by a 3-pointer by Aniylah Bryant, to close out the half leading 28-24.
The Broncos outshot the Vikings 35.7% to 22.6% from the field in the first half.
Both teams came out shooting in the third quarter, but it was Fayetteville State that took a four-point lead on a layup by Nyah Wilkins with 4:41 left. The Vikings took the lead right back, using a 3-pointer by Simmons and two free throws to go up 41-40 with 3:25 left. The Broncos went ahead 44-43 heading into the fourth quarter.
The teams were tied at 52 with 6:29 left before ECSU took a brief lead with two free throws, 54-52, with 4:54 remaining.
Brown said being down so late in the game did not faze his team.
“It was still five minutes left, so nobody got down. Nobody panicked,” Brown said. “We had a great group of players who believed. We’ve been hot in the mouth before.”
Fayetteville State scored the next six points, four by Bryant and two by Talia Trotter, to grab the lead for good at 58-54 with 2:14 left.
Elizabeth City State still made another run. Trailing 60-56, NyAsia Blango hit a long 3-pointer from two feet beyond the arc to cut the lead with 60-59 with 36.6 seconds left. That was as close as the Vikings would come, as McLauglin and Daziyahna Wilson hit layups down the stretch to preserve the win.
Elizabeth City State coach Tynesha Lewis said that even though her team didn’t win, she still appreciated the effort of her players.
“We’re grateful for opportunity to be here,” Lewis said. “This is a tough loss for a lot of reasons, we missed a lot of chippies against a quality team. You just can’t do that and win.”