CHARLOTTE — The Golden Bulls of Johnson C. Smith University fell to the Broncos of Fayetteville State University, 74-64 on Saturday afternoon at Brayboy Gymnasium.
The Broncos (12-2, 6-1 CIAA) jumped out to a 27-7 lead after the first quarter and never trailed.

Johnson C. Smith (6-9, 3-5 CIAA) responded with its best stretch in the second quarter, outscoring Fayetteville State 20-11 to cut the deficit to 38-27 at halftime. The Golden Bulls shot better than 72 percent in the quarter.

JCSU continued to battle in the second half, winning the fourth quarter 22-14, but could not overcome the early deficit.

La'Niya Simes paced Johnson C. Smith with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Sabrina Lewis scored 13 points off the bench, and Amya Graham added 11 points and three rebounds in limited minutes.

The Golden Bulls finished with 31 bench points but were unable to overcome the early deficit

Fayetteville State was led by Kelis Carmon's 15 points, while Alivia Evans added 11. The Broncos shot 52.3 percent from the field and forced 15 JCSU turnovers.