The Virginia Union Panthers secured a crucial win Saturday going on the road to defeat the CIAA North-leading Virginia State Trojans 77-69 in the Freedom Classic.
The loss for the Trojans hands them their first conference loss of the season dropping them to 5-1 (12-5 overall) in CIAA play.
In addition to this being Virginia Union’s sixth straight win over Virginia State, the Panthers move within a game of the Trojans in the division, improving to 4-2 in the conference and 14-4 overall.
This was a wire-to-wire win for Virginia Union as they led by as many as 18 points in the game. Virginia State was unable to recover from a fast start by the Panthers who got out to an 11-point lead within the first seven minutes of the game.
Final.
The Trojans suffer their first conference loss to VUU ⚔️
We will see them again Feb. 18 in Barco-Stevens Hall… pic.twitter.com/HbeGZ1YTgu
— VSU Athletics (@VSUsports) January 14, 2023
Virginia Union forward Robert Osborne added yet another impressive performance to his resume finishing with a game-high 27 points on 11-of-20 shooting from the field. He also added six rebounds and four assists.
This is Osborne’s seventh game this season scoring at least 20 points and his fourth with at least 25 points. Following Osborne was Kaleaf Tate, who put up 17 points connecting on three 3-pointers.
Leading the way for Virginia State was the duo of Terrence Hunter-Whitfield and Francis Fitzgerald who combined for 43 points, accounting for all nine of the team’s 3-point makes.
