Senior guard Ronald Thornhill capped off his final Brayboy performance with 14 points, six rebounds, and two assists in the 70-62 win over SAC
GOLDEN BULLS BASKETBALL SURGES BACK FOR A 70-62 VICTORY OVER ST. AUGUSTINE’S
JCSU wins two straight
Box Score vs. SAC
Charlotte, NC – The Johnson C. Smith University men's basketball team split the season series with a 70-62 win against St. Augustine's College on Monday evening for the home season finale inside Brayboy Gymnasium. JCSU improves to 15-9 overall, 11-5 in the CIAA, and 4-5 in the Southern; while the Falcons fall to 9-16 overall, 7-9 conference, and 3-6 in the division.
J.C. Smith got off to a slow start in the low scoring first half. The Falcons outscored JCSU 14-4 off turnovers and held a small 29-24 advantage at halftime. Johnson C. Smith turned the ball over 12 times, compared to seven for SAC and shot 0-for-7 from the three point line.
Sophomore center
Delonta Boyd (District Heights, MD) and junior forward
Michael Cooper (New Rochelle, NY) made a presence in the post with eight and seven points, respectively in the opening.
The Golden Bulls trailed in the second half until the 6:20 mark. Sophomore guard
Trevin Parks (Hickory, NC) hit a 15-foot jumper to tie the game (51-51) for the third time. The second tie was 15-15 with 6:46 on the clock in the first half. After some time elapsed, senior guard
Ronald Thornhill (Alberta, VA) popped a huge three pointer to put JCSU ahead 59-57 with 2:41 remaining.
Freshman forward
Antwan Wilkerson (Greensboro, NC) put four unanswered points on the board off two free throws and a slam that brought the crowd to their feet. Johnson C. Smith did not relinquish the lead and sealed the victory with 5-of-6 shooting at the FT line in the final 30 seconds.
Thornhill capped off his final Brayboy performance with 14 points, six rebounds, and two assists. Boyd also scored 14 and grabbed four rebounds. Parks had a team-high 16 points and six assists. Wilkerson recorded a double-double of 10 points and 11 boards, also four assists. Senior forward
Earl Jackson (Temple Hills, MD) maintained post position with five rebounds.
Johnson C. Smith only shot 40.6% (13-32) from the floor, but outscored the Falcons 46-33 in the second half. St. Augustine's lost the rebounding battle 50-35 and a 20-4 disadvantage in second chance points.
“I thought we showed more game awareness, especially defensively in the second half,” said JCSU head coach #Stephen Joyner, Sr.# Joyner has been coaching with a heavy heart after the loss of his grandmother this week. “We played with a lot more focus and rebounded the ball well, but we have to put two halves of basketball like that together.”
The Golden Bulls will close out the regular season on the road against longtime rival Livingstone
College. Game time is schedule for 7:30 p.m. inside Trent Gymnasium in Salisbury, NC on Saturday, February 26th. JCSU whopped the Blue Bears 84-66 in Brayboy earlier this season.
