Dec. 18, 2008

Final Stats

DURHAM, N.C. - North Carolina Central University fell victim to a hot-shooting Winston-Salem State University team on Thursday night, as the visiting Rams torched the nets inside McLendon-McDougald Gymnasium for a 66-51 victory over their rival Eagles.

WSSU (2-7) entered the contest with a 24.8 percent success rate from long distance, but connected on 9-of-19 three-pointers (47.4 percent) on Thursday. The Rams also hit 51.1 percent (24-of-47) from the field, compared to 36.2 percent shooting by NCCU (21-of-58).

Leading the way for the Rams was junior guard Brian Fisher, who nailed 5-of-8 from behind the arch for 19 points against the Eagles after making only 6-of-29 three-pointers the rest of the season. Fisher added seven rebounds and five assists to his credit.

WSSU also received 19 points from senior forward Jamal Durham, who shot 8-for-12 from the floor, and 10 points from junior guard Diontae Gibson.

NCCU (0-13) was topped by freshman guard Jamar Briscoe with 13 points and a game-high six assists, while freshman forward Nick Chasten contributed 10 points and four rebounds in his first contest of the season.

The Rams stormed out to a 7-0 advantage and extended the cushion to double-figures when Lamar Monger hit a three-pointer to make the score 14-4 at 13:29 of the opening stanza.

WSSU led by as much as 12 points before the Eagles went on a 6-2 run to close out the first half, trimming the deficit to 31-25 at intermission.

NCCU scored the first basket of the second half to pull within four points, but that was as close as the Eagles would get the rest of the way.

WSSU enjoyed its largest lead of the night when Fisher and Durham knocked down back-to-back triples to make the score 65-49 with 3:28 remaining.

NCCU returns to action on Monday (Dec. 22) at Duquesne University.