Total Team Effort Sparks JCSU Men to 89-75 Win Over Rival Livingstone

Charlotte, N.C. (Jan. 24, 2018) – The Johnson C. Smith University men's basketball team had five players score in double figures and used good shooting to down rival Livingstone 89-75 on Wednesday night at a jam-packed Brayboy Gym.

After being tied at 19-19 with 8:47 to go in the first half, the Golden Bulls put together a 15-4 run over a five-minute span to claim the 34-23 lead.  JCSU then got a three-pointer from sophomore forward Cayse Minor (Winston-Salem, N.C.) at the halftime buzzer to send JCSU to a 43-29 lead at the half.

In the second half, the Golden Bulls picked up where they left off, keeping the Blue Bears at bay.  Livingstone did trim the JCSU lead to just six points (45-39) at the 17:48 mark, but JCSU quickly raced out to a 14-point lead (53-39) with an 8-0 run.

The visiting Blue Bears would get not closer than nine points the rest of the way, while watching the Golden Bulls build their second half cushion to as many as 20 points (78-58) with 4:48 to play after a Christian Kirchman (Roanoke, Va.) free throw.  LC would get the lead down to just 10 points (81-71) but would get no closer as the Golden Bulls claimed the 89-75 win.

As a team, JCSU shot 50% from the field (26-of-52), 50% from long range (8-of-16) and 78.4% (29-of-37) from the line in the win.  JCSU got 18 points from junior
Roddric Ross (Forest City, N.C.) while Minor had 17 points on a night where he buried four from long range. He also had a team-high four steals. Kirchman had 16 points in the win and a team-best five assists while Jonathan Curtis (High Point, N.C.) registered a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Rounding out the double-digit scorers for JCSU was Michael Bowman (Salisbury, N.C.) with 10 points.  Bowman also contributed four assists on the night.

Livingstone's Roger Ray had the hot hand for the Blue Bears, as he poured in 29 points in the loss while teammate Cameron Burhannon had 10 points.

The win pushes JCSU to 11-7 overall, 4-2 in CIAA play and a perfect 3-0 in Southern Division play.  Livingstone drops to 6-8 overall, 4-4 in CIAA action and 1-2 in the Southern Division.

JCSU will look to stay atop the Southern Division standings this upcoming Saturday as they hit the road to take on Winston-Salem State.  Tipoff from the Gaines Center is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.