The Fayetteville State Broncos men’s basketball team will join the women in playing for a conference championship, following a decisive 90-68 win over the Johnson C. Smith Golden Bulls.
Larry Howell led all scorers with 23 points, hitting 13-of-14 free throws. He also added nine rebounds and four assists.
Travon Cooper II dropped an efficient 21 points, shooting 75% from the field, including all three of his three-point attempts.
Among three double-digit scorers, Trey Pettigrew topped Johnson C. Smith with 19 points, closely followed by 18 points from Jamauri Bryant, adding nine rebounds and three steals.
The Broncos were quick to be first to the punch, taking a 17-3 lead in the first six minutes, including making their first four shots from the field.
Both teams traded runs back-and-forth for the remainder of the first half, ending with Johnson C. Smith going on a 21-9 run in the final six minutes.
This turned out to be the closest Johnson C. Smith would get in this game, as Fayetteville State began the second half on a 25-10 run to build a 20-point lead.
In addition to Fayetteville State’s style of play, Johnson C. Smith head coach Antwain Banks believes the energy his team had to exert during their run to end the first half played a part in the Broncos creating separation in the second half.
“I just thought it took so much out of us to get back in [the game] to where we just didn’t have enough left in the tank, said Coach Banks. “A lot of that is style of play; they get after it. Their pressure kind of sped us up; we turned it over 17 times. Offensively, they were disruptive, and we had some first-side shots. Too much one-on-one, we didn’t really have enough ball movement or enough body movement. They dictated the game.”
The Broncos continued to put pressure on the Golden Bulls, leading by as many as 30, coasting into the championship game.
Meanwhile, Fayetteville State head coach Devin Hoehn’s perspective on his team’s second-half run is much simpler than it may appear on the surface.
“I wouldn’t say that there was anything too crazy that we did x’s and o’s, wise, we just played harder,” said Coach Hoehn on his team’s start to the second half. We knew they had been playing tough games the past couple of days, and we had a rest day. So, I told our guys we have to make it look like we had a day off. With this press, our guys jumped on them pretty good in the first five minutes of the second half and kind of cruised from that point on. It was a team win for sure, the bench, everybody was involved.”
Fayetteville State will now look forward to a matchup with Bluefield State, the team that Coach Hoehn led to the conference championship game last season.
Ironically, Bluefield State is now coached by Luke D’Alessio, who had served as head coach at FSU for the previous six seasons before departing to take over following Hoehn’s departure.
In addition, Fayetteville State also has the opportunity to pull off the championship double, with the Lady Broncos preparing to face Winston-Salem State in the women’s championship game.
Should they do so, they would be the first CIAA program to accomplish this feat since Virginia Union in 2018.
