FSU Broncos: Men’s and Women’s Basketball Recap

The end of the basketball season for Fayetteville State University Broncos is almost upon us, and both the men’s and women’s teams have had a spectacular year playing.  

The men’s team sit right now second in the southern division of the CIAA conference behind Winston-Salem State University. They have a 6-3 division record and a 12-3 overall conference record. With one game left and the Broncos playing St. Augustine University, they looked to repeat their first match-up win of 60-52, and finish out their season on a win. FSU was victorious, 67-51. 

The women’s basketball team right now have one game left in the season, and sit in second place in the southern division behind Johnson C. Smith University. They also have a 6-3 division record and a 10-5 conference record. Their last game was St. Augustine University, with which they had a dominant performance against them in their first match-up, winning 61-44. On February 19, the women’s team was unable to clinch that victory though, ending the season with a 77-85 loss. 

So, it was a mixed end of the regular season for FSU basketball leading into the CIAA Tournament. 

On senior night, February 16, at Methodist University both the men’s and women’s team capped off the night with wins. It was a bittersweet end for the senior on their final game at the March F. Riddle Center.  

For the men’s side their second to last game of the season against Claflin University they came away as victors with the score being 71-67. Darian Dixon led the Broncos in scoring with 23 points. He shot 8-14 from the field while also shooting 7-10 from the free throw line.  

The game was close at halftime at 37-33. The Broncos had a comfortable lead for majority of the second half up until around the three and half minute mark. That’s when Claflin cut the lead to a two-point margin 57-55 behind the Panthers’s Donell Frayer, Jr. back-to-back three-pointers. But the Broncos made 6 out of their 7 free throws to ice the game.  

At the end of the Jalen Seegars finished the game with a game high of four blocks and 5 points. He was awarded his 1,000-point ball. He reached the 1,000-point mark on January 29 against St. Augustine. Seegars finished his career with 1,084 points in total.  

The women’s team won their game against the Claflin Panthers in a dominant fashion, 70-54.  

Imani Elliot had a career night, dropping 20 points and shooting perfectly from the 3-point line.  

It was a fast-paced game and with that fast pace the Broncos were able to force 10 turnovers. The Broncos were able to capitalize on those turnovers with 23 points, with 14 of those being fast-break points.  

The Panthers finished the game shooting 31.3% (21-67) from the field. They kept the game close in the first half with second chance points along with 24 offensive rebounds. But the Broncos dominated in the third, 17-9 in that quarter alone, and the Panthers were unable to fight back.