MURFREESBORO, N.C.
The Chowan University Hawks and Lady Hawks battled to the end to split victories with the visiting Elizabeth City State University Vikings in two exciting CIAA games at the Helms Center. Playing on the campus of Chowan University on Saturday, Jan. 17, the Lady Hawks went down 62-60, while the Hawks came out on top with a 70-66 win in Northern Division games of the CIAA.

The first half of play was dominated by the Lady Vikings, as they held the lead for much of the half — at one point as high as eight. At the half the Lady Vikings were up 29-23.

Coming out of the locker room for the second half, the Lady Vikings continued to pump in the baskets, and by 17:24 pushed the led to its highest point at 27-34.

At the 13:00 mark, Alisha Mobley for the Lady Hawks tied the score at 40-all on a layup. After the fourth tie of the game at 44-all, the home team took the lead and picked up the tempo. Coming to life the Lady Hawks went ahead by as many as nine points with the score 53-46 as 4:53 remained in the game.

But the Lady Vikings continued to chip away at the Lady Hawks lead. With 3:03 left in the game, Lady Vikings’ Jadda Jefferies connected on a three-point basket to tie the score for the fifth time at 56 all. With 39 seconds left on the clock, Jefferies on a layup gave the Lady Vikings a 60-58 lead. With 21 seconds remaining, Alisha Mobley tied the score for the seventh time at 60-all.

After a Vikings’ time-out, Jefferies, on a back-door layup, scored what would be the winning basket with 7 seconds left to play. The Lady Hawks immediately took a time-out, but a missed shot by Jordan Payne gave the visitors the win.

The Lady Hawks had two players in double figures. They were Rachel Gostomske with 10 points and Alisha Mobley with 17 points. The Lady Vikings were led by Jadda Jefferies with 30 points. The Lady Hawks have a record now of 8-9 overall and 4-3 in the CIAA.

Men’s basketball game

In the opening minutes of the men’s game, both teams came out with a tight, aggressive game plan, with the Vikings holding the early lead. After the fifth tie at the 6:42 mark and the score at 24-all, Josh Mellette for the Hawks edged the home team ahead 25-24. From that point forward for the remainder of the first half, the home team maintained the lead, going into the locker room with a 38-32 edge.

Returning to play in the second half, the Hawks continued to pour it on to the Vikings. Mark Anthony Buright, coming off the bench, had a hot hand for the Hawks, as he connected on three three-point jumpers in the second half. The Hawks on a roll in scoring pushed their lead to its height at 13 points and a score of 58-45 with 7:40 left to play.

As with all games the momentum can change, and it did for the Vikings. Fighting back — and with 1:11 left to play — they were only behind by one point with the score 65-64. With 56 seconds remaining, the Hawks Kyree Bethel pushed their lead to 68-64 after he connected on a three-point jumper. The Vikings’ final score came on a layup by Kentrell Key with 39 seconds remaining to play. Forced to foul, the Viking put the Hawks Tiron Brown on the line, who sealed the win, hitting both free throws for the Hawks.

The Hawks had two players in double figures. Buright led with 21 points and Kyree Bethel had 16 points. The Hawks’ bench contributed 26 of the 70 total points, and they out-rebounded the Vikings, 40-27. The Hawks also shot 71.4 percent from the free throw line.

The Vikings had three players in double figures. They were Miykael Faulcon with 19 points, Kentrell Key with 14 and DeCarlos Anderson with 12 points. The Hawks record now stands at 10-6 overall and 4 -3 in the CIAA.