WINSTON-SALEM, NC –WSSU was back in the comfortable confines of C.E. Gaines Center on Thursday night and it made itself right at home.
WSSU led from wire-to-wire, coming away with a bench-clearing win 88-45 over Saint Augustine’s University.
Graduate student Jaylin Parker led the way with a career-high 18 points, hitting 6 of his 10 attempts from the 3-point line. Sophomore KC Shaw added 16 points on seven-for-nine shooting.
The Rams shot 60 percent from the field and 45 percent from the 3-point line. Twelve of the 13 players who entered the game scored.
Saint Augustine’s shot 28.6 percent from both the field and the 3-point line as Jordan Love was the lone player in double-figures with 11 points.
It was a far cry from WSSU’s last game as it suffered a humbling nine-point loss at Johnson C. Smith on Saturday. Cleo Hill Jr. said that loss made motivation easy in practice.
“Going down to Johnson C. Smith in Brayboy for our new guys, it was a lot different,” Hill said. “But we thought we would come back, refocus, go over some things. We got away from some fundamental down things there in Charlotte. Give them credit. But we wanted to get back to Ram basketball, how we play. And I thought we did that tonight for the most part.”
WSSU improved to 12-4 on the season, 6-1 in CIAA play and 1-1 in the Southern Division. It will face another stiff test on Saturday as it travels to Orangeburg, SC to Claflin. Claflin comes in having won five of its last six games. WSSU got the better of CU in the CIAA Tournament, though, and Hill
“They swept us both games here in down here in Orangeburg (in 2023). But I thought we found some things out about them preparing for them in the CIAA tournament and we’ll use that probably on Saturday,” Hill said. “But the (CIAA) South is a grind. Everybody. Everybody’s tough. A bunch of good coaches, good programs, good players. It was going to be a grind.”