The 2025 CIAA Basketball Tournament opened with some highly intriguing matchups that will likely foreshadow how the remainder of the week will go.
Of the six matchups on Tuesday night, four of them were decided by two possessions or less and the other four resulted in double-digit outcomes. The tournament host Bowie State men’s and women’s teams advanced to the quarterfinals, leaving many of the fans encouraged.
Bluefield State 74, Johnson C. Smith 59
Bluefield State guard Azariah Binford led the charge on both ends, finishing with a game-high 24 points and five steals to fuel the Big Blue to a comfortable win over the Golden Bulls in the tournament opener.
Jasmine Jenkins contributed a double-double of 23 points and 12 rebounds for Bluefield State, who advances to the next round for a matchup against Fayetteville State, the defending champs, on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.
The Big Blue led 22-12 after the first quarter and never relinquished their lead from that point. JCSU Forward Ashlei Kirven recorded 19 points and 15 rebounds while Kamryn Wilson added 10 points for the Golden Bulls.
Claflin 50, Elizabeth City State 39
Claflin’s Nya Morris was the game’s lone double-digit scorer, finishing the afternoon with 16 points and five steals. The guard wound up fouling out, but had made enough impact to power the Panthers to an opening-round win over ECSU on Tuesday afternoon.
Building a 33-17 halftime cushion paid off for the Panthers. Though they were outscored in the third and fourth periods, they had built a large enough advantage – and sustained control – to seal the win.
Rashauna Grant led the Vikings with six points and 11 boards. Claflin advances to face Virginia Union in the quarterfinal round on Thursday at noon.
Lincoln 54, Shaw 49
An 18-point, nine-rebound afternoon from Lincoln guard Anyssa Fields and a solid late-game defensive effort propelled the Lions to a close win over Shaw on Tuesday afternoon.
Baltimore native Riley Holliday poured in 14 points and five boards to help Lincoln advance. Both teams were virtually neck-and-neck in every statistical category but Lincoln managed to make the more timely plays down the stretch to seal the victory.
Shaw’s Kaylee Milburn recorded 18 points and 11 rebounds on 8-of-13 shooting to lead the Bears. D’Ayzha Akinson chipped in with 14 points and five boards.
Lincoln will square off against Virginia State on Wednesday at 2:20 p.m., and the winner will advance to the semifinals.
Bowie State 64, Winston-Salem State 54
BSU standout and Baltimore native Destiny Ryles was, by far, the top performer for the opening day of the tournament.
The 5-foot-3 senior guard scored a game-high 37 to go with six steals and four boards to lead the Bulldogs to a 10-point win over WSSU on Tuesday afternoon. Ayasha Thomas poured in 11 points and three assists for Bowie in the big win.
Christiana McLean had 23 points and seven rebounds to lead the Rams.
Bowie State trailed WSSU 25-11 after the first and closed the deficit to 31-26 by halftime. In the second half, the Bulldogs were able to reverse the momentum, completing a 24-point turnaround to run away with the win.
Next, BSU will play Livingstone on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the quarterfinals.
Men’s results
Bowie State 68, Livingstone 64
Elijah Davis netted 27 points to lead all scorers and help the Bulldogs eke out a close win to kick off the CIAA Tournament.
The guard constantly made pivotal plays on both ends down the stretch to keep Bowie State in control for most of the night. BSU led by as much as 18 with five minutes left in the first half before going on a near-10-minute scoring drought.
Livingstone applied pure toughness and grit to open the second half on a 15-4 run, tying the knot 43-43 with about 10 minutes left in regulation. From that point, it was a back-and-forth affair for the rest of the evening.
Near the three-minute mark, Caleb Johnson and Warren Mouganda forced three straight turnovers to help the Bulldogs extend their lead back to 59-51. Despite a late-game rally from the Blue Bears, BSU held on for the narrow victory.
Amare Winbush scored 14 for Bowie and Baltimore native Jamal Cannady Jr. led Livingstone with 20 points. Bowie State advances to face Virginia Union on Wednesday night at 6:40 p.m. in CFG Bank Arena.
Virginia Union 71, Shaw 45
The Panthers and the Bears rounded off Day 1 of the tournament with what appeared to be the least competitive game thus far.
Virginia Union’s Keyshawn Faulkner-Smith was a force down low, finishing the night with a game-high 19 points and seven blocks to lead the Panthers to the big win over the Bears.
Virginia Union sprinted out to a 6-0 lead in the first two minutes of action and Dalyaun Mitchell drilled a 3 off an assist from Travis Vaughn to put VUU up 13-1 five minutes into the matchup.
The Panthers used a relentless defensive effort to hold Shaw without a field goal for the first eight and a half minutes of the game. Darius Abraham scored Shaw’s first field goal of the night on a triple at the top of the key at the 11:32 mark of the first half.
Faulkner-Smith threw down a vicious dunk before hitting a jumper from the short corner that gave the Panthers a 23-6 lead just beneath the nine-minute mark of the first half. VUU slowed down offensively toward the end of the first half, but found ways to keep its opponent at bay, sustaining a double-digit lead for the majority of the opening frame.
Panthers guard Bobby Garnder put in a contested layup as the first-half buzzer sounded to give his team a 32-18 advantage at intermission. The Bears were held to 5-of-26 shooting while the Panthers shot an efficient 13 of 19.
Five minutes into the second half, the Panthers comfortably led 40-20 as everything seemed to be going their way. With 10 minutes left in regulation, Virginia Union held a 48-29 advantage. From tip off to the final buzzer, the Panthers were in control and continued to build their lead.
Bobby Gardner added 15 points, six steals and five assists for the Panthers, who advance to the quarterfinal round to square off against Fayetteville State for the last matchup on Wednesday night at CFG Bank Arena.
