Elizabeth City State jumped on St. Augustine’s early, bolting to a 7-0 lead but the Falcons battled back, taking the 14-13 lead. Keith Crawford would nail a three-pointer to stake the Falcons to a 17-13 lead at the 7:07 mark in the first half.
ECSU would cut the lead to 27-25 following a three pointer from Glenn Patterson with 1:21 remaining in the opening stanza. The Falcons would get a jumper from Marquis Hines to make it 29-25 and would carry that lead into the halftime break.
In the second half, St. Augustine’s jumped to a 36-26 lead, their largest of the game, when Marquis Hines boarded a missed free throw and got the put back with 16:30 remaining.
ECSU was able to cut the lead to 36-29 following a Brachon Griffin free throw with 15:51 remaining. The Vikings then cut it to 36-31 with two more free throws, this time from Darrell Ward.
After a Falcon turnover, ECSU trimmed the lead to 36-33 following a Darrell Ward layup with 14:24 remaining. DeCarlos Anderson would bring ECSU to within one at 36-35 after he got two free throws to fall with 13:47 remaining.
SAU would break the 12-0 ECSU run when Keith Crawford tipped in a miss, providing the 38-35 ECSU lead. After two technical free throws, SAU jumped ahead 40-35. Anthony Gaskins then got a three pointer to drop, giving SAU the 43-35 lead with 11:00 to play.
The St. Augustine’s lead would shrink to 43-27 following a pair of John Tatum free throws with 10:42 left.
ECSU was able to score on two straight possessions, when Tatum nailed a three pointer then added two free throws on their next possession to narrow the Viking lead to 45-42 with 7:11 to go.
Anthony Gaskins would answer for SAU, when he drilled a long three pointer with 6:38 left to make it 48-42. Gaskins would then hit another three pointer from the exact same spot a possession later to extend the Falcon lead to 51-42 at the 5:48 mark.
Up 54-47 at the 3:56 mark, St. Augustine’s got a pair of free throws from freshman Quincy January to boost the lead to 56-47.
ECSU got 11 points each from John Tatum and Darrell Ward.
“Tonight was a complete team effort,” said St. Augustine’s Head Coach MarQus Johnson. “We defended and rebounded well and when we do both, we will be in a lot of ball games.”
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