Courtesy: Fayetteville State Athletics
Fayetteville, NC — One thing Fayetteville State’s Head Coach Luke D’Alessio values is protecting home court. Following Wednesday’s conference game against Virginia State in Capel Arena, Coach D’Alessio had a longer than usual postgame locker room conversation after the Broncos squandered a 62-68 loss to the Trojans.
Virginia State took an early 7-3 lead after a jump ball and managed a 25-16 (9-point) advantage with 6:10 left in the half. The Broncos cut that lead down to four (28-24) before heading into intermission down 32-27.
The Trojans went on a 9-0 run after halftime for its largest lead of the game (47-34) with 11:37 on the clock.
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Mark Burton (Tokyo, Japan) capped a 7-0 Bronco run with a fast-break layup and a three-pointer to help cut the deficit to four (51-47) with 7:20 left. Fayetteville State continued to scrap and trailed by three (59-56) following a couple of free throws by Will Brown (Gresham, SC).
Ryan Jones nailed a banked three-pointer at 1:13 to up the score to 61-56 and Walter Williams followed with one of his own to push the lead to 64-57 with 49 seconds left in regulation.
Jalen Seegars (Greensboro, NC) led the effort with 13 points, seven rebounds, and two blocked shots. Burton finished with 12 points and Brown finished with ten points and four blocks. Darian Dixon scored nine points and had five rebounds.
The Broncos were outrebounded 33-28 for which the Trojans grabbed 21 defensive boards limiting FSU to nine second-chance points. VSU also had 15 points off turnovers from the Broncos’ 14 turnovers.
Williams of VSU led the game with 16 points and Andrew Corum finished with ten.
Fayetteville State will travel to rival Winston-Salem State on Saturday, January 25 for a 4 pm divisional matchup.