Big Blue men, women eliminated in USCAA
Mar. 16—PETERSBURG, Va. — Bluefield State University men's basketball fell to Salem University 96-86 in the Semi-Finals of USCAA Tournament on Wednesday.
The Big Blue women were eliminated from the USCAA women's bracket semifinals late Tuesday night in a 67-59 loss to D'Youville University.
On the mens' side, Jordan Hinds earned the double-double for Bluefield State with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Kaine McColley added 18 followed by Malik Tidwell with 18 and Malik Lacewell with 10.
The Tigers struck first with a 3, but McColley answered with a wing 3 followed later by a free throw from Tidwell to take the one-point lead. The Tigers later scored 11 unanswered points to take the 17-5 lead over the Big Blue five minutes into play.
Later in the half, a trip to the line for Tidwell pulled the Big Blue within 11. The Tigers built a lead of 18 with five minutes left but the Big Blue cut the deficit to 12 going into the second half.
The Tigers opened the second half with six points in a row, but a three from Lacewell stopped the Tiger run. The Tigers built a lead of 21 midway through the half, but the Big Blue pulled within 11 with five minutes left in play. A three from McColley at 3:44 cut the deficit to seven, but the Big Blue could not get any closer, falling 96-86.
In the women's game, both Dani Janutolo and Azariah Binford led the scoring for the Big Blue with 12 apiece. Janutolo come away with the double-double by adding ten rebounds on the night.
D'Youville scored the first points of the night after a trip to the line, but Essence Cowan gave the Big Blue the one-point lead after a wing three. D'Youville answered with 11 consecutive points to take the 13-3 lead at the four-minute mark. A trip to the line for Londen Coleman with four seconds left in the first quarter, cut the deficit to ten going into the second.
D'Youville built a lead of 20 at the midway point in the second quarter. The Big Blue answered with six points in a row to cut the lead to 14 going into the half.
A free throw from Janutolo and a floater from Binford cut the D'Youville lead to seven in the final minute of the third. A late foul by the Big Blue sent D'Youville to the line to extend their lead to nine going into the final quarter.
Janutolo opened the fourth quarter with a top of the key three to cut the lead 46-40, but D'Youville extended their lead with three consecutive layups. A three from Aerihna Afoa followed by a layup from Gabrielle Thomas pulled the Big Blue within eight with just under a minute to play. D'Youville hit 3 out of four free throws in the final minute to take the 11-point lead. Binford hit a driving layup with ten seconds left, but the Big Blue fell short 67-58 against D'Youville.
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