Blue Bears Outlast Bowie State, Advance to Semifinals

– Roger Ray scored 19 points including two free throws with 12 seconds left as Livingstone outlasted Bowie State 79-74 in a CIAA Tournament quarterfinal contest at the Spectrum Center on Monday.The victory pits Livingstone (17-11 overall), seeded second in the Southern Division, against Northern Division champion and nationally-ranked Virginia State in Friday’s televised semifinal game by AspireTV at 7 p.m. Bowie State, seeded third in the Northern Division, ended its season at 17-13.Ray led four Blue Bears in double figures. Lydell Elmore scored 13 points and Damante’ McNeill registered 12 points off the bench. Navar Elmore produced 11 points for the Blue Bears, who forced 21 turnovers and outscored the Bulldogs 27-8 in turnover points.“We turned the ball over too much in the second half,” Bowie State Head Coach Darrell Brooks said. “[Livingstone] is a team that plays at a frantic pace. They score a lot off turnovers.”The Blue Bears won a hard-fought contest that featured 11 lead changes and 15 ties. The score was tied 61-61 with just under five minutes left, but the Blue Bears outscored the Bulldogs 18-13 down the stretch including 8 of 10 free throws in the final two minutes. Ray scored eight points and McNeill added four points during the run for the Blue Bears, who shot 55.2 percent in the second half.“The biggest key for us was getting defensive stops,” Livingstone Head Coach James Stinson said. “They missed a shot or two and we were able to execute on the offensive end and hit a couple of big threes.”Cameron Hayes came off the bench to pump in a game-high 21 points for the Bulldogs, who shot 35.1 percent from the floor including 39.3 percent in the second half. Rebounding kept the Bulldogs in the game as they held a 50-36 advantage on the boards including a 22-15 edge on the offensive glass, which led to 21 second-chance points.The Bulldogs also stayed close by making 29 of 38 free throw attempts for 76.3 percent. The Blue Bears were 21 of 30 at the charity stripe for 70 percent.Rinardo Perry registered 15 points and David Belle had 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs. Saiquan Jamison snatched a game-high 15 rebounds.Neither team led by more than six points in the contest. The Bulldogs led 31-29 at halftime and stayed in front until midway in the second half.The Blue Bears took their first lead of the second half on Lydell Elmore’s layup for a 53-52 score. They led for good on McNeill’s layup for a 57-56 lead at the 7:27 mark.Navar Elmore scored seven points and Ray added five in the first half for the Blue Bears. After regrouping in the locker room from a two-point deficit, the Blue Bears outscored the Bulldogs 50-43 in the second half.The win avenged an 82-69 regular-season loss to Bowie State in Bowie, Md., on Jan. 7, 2019. This time, the Blue Bears had their way with the Bulldogs in the final moments, and they stay alive in the tournament because of it.