ETTRICK, VA – The Virginia State Men's Basketball team suffered their first conference loss of the season to I-95 rivals in Virginia Union 77-69. Though the Panthers took a 7-0 lead in the first half, the Trojans gave themselves a chance to win late in the ball game but it was unfortunately too little too late.
At the Half
The Trojans unfortunately started the game behind the eight-ball allowing Virginia Union to take a 7-0 lead with 18:28 left to go in the first half. Although
Francis "BJ" Fitzgerald brought his team back to within three points with a pair of three-pointers, VUU was able to extend their lead to 23-11 with 12:06 left in the first half. The Trojans were able to cut the lead down to just six before the Trojans were able to extend their lead to 15 with under three minutes to go. The Panthers took a 45-32 lead into the locker room at halftime. The Trojans had a pretty cold half from the field shooting 11-of-28 (39.2%) while the visitors shot 18-of-37 (48.6%). VSU landed 6-of-15 (40%) three-pointers while the Panthers hit 5-of-11 (45.4%). Both squads were nearly even from the foul line as VSU knocked down 4-of-5 (80%) while VUU hit 4-of-6 (66.7%) of theirs.
Second Half
While the Trojans were able to cut the lead to 10 with 18:57 left to go, VUU took a seven-point lead with 15:31 left to go after scoring six points straight. With 11:01 left to go in regulation, the Panthers took an 18-point lead. Down but not out, the Trojans were able to cut the lead down to 12 points after a bucket from
Robert Smith. After scoring five straight points, the Trojans were able to make the score 73-66 with 1:29 left to go in regulation. The Trojans would go on to cut the lead to six points with just nine seconds left but that proved to be the closest they would get to taking the lead with the final score being 77-69 after a pair of free throws from the Panthers.
Team Statistics
The biggest deciding factor of the game proved to be turnovers as VSU committed 17 while forcing just 12. The Trojans shot 22-of-51 (43.1%) from the field and 9-of-24 (37.5%) from three-point range while allowing the Panthers to shoot 29-of-63 (46.0%) from the field and 6-of-15 (40%) from three-point range. Both team ended with an identical 23 fouls which led to the Trojans shooting 16-of-26 (61.5%) from the foul line while the Panther made 13-of-23 (56.5%) of theirs. The VSU bench was outscored 16-6. Virginia Union was able to dominate the paint outscoring the Trojans 38-20. The Panthers earned the slight edge in the rebounding category 31-30 as 10 offensive rebounds led to 12 second chance points for the Trojans.
Stat Leaders
Terrence Hunter-Whitfield led the team with 22 points which marks his eight 20-point game of the season. Hunter-Whitfield shot 7-of-15 (46.7%) from the field and 4-of-7 (57.1%) from beyond the arc along with a pair rebounds, three assists and a steal. Francis "BJ" Fitzgerald scored 21 points after shooting 7-of-14 (50%) from the field and 5-of-9 (55.6%) from beyond the arc which included four made three-pointers in the first half. Fitzgerald ended with six rebounds, three assists and a steal also. The Panthers struggled to find an answer for Tremere Brown as he ended with 14 points shooting 4-of-5 (80%) from the field and 6-of-10 (60%) from the free throw line along with seven rebounds with five of them being offensive. Dajour Rucker scored five points shooting 2-of-4 (50%) from the field while grabbing seven rebounds. Robert Smith scored four points grabbed three rebounds and accounted for a block and a steal in just nine minutes of action. Zach Newkirk ended with a team-high six assists.
Up Next
The Trojans will have a few days to regain their strength before heading down to Raleigh, NC to take on the Bears of Shaw January. 18 with tip-off starting at 7:30 p.m.
