Claflin University – Donnell Frayer, Jr. scored a game-high 20 points and Cornellius Reynolds added 13 points as the Claflin University men’s basketball team upset the No. 1 seeded team in the Northern Division Virginia State University (VSU) in the quarterfinal round of the 2020 Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) men’s basketball tournament at Bojangles’ Coliseum on Wednesday.
Claflin, who entered the tournament as the No. 4 seed in the Southern Division, improves to 15-15 and advance to face the winner of the Livingstone/Winston-Salem State game in the semifinal on Friday, Feb. 28 at 9 p.m. at the Spectrum Center. Virginia State season concludes with a 19-9 record.
Claflin’s Brandon Davis came off the bench to contribute eight points and six rebounds.
Virginia State was led in scoring by Andrew Corum with 19 points with five rebounds. The Trojans had two players to score in double-figures as Armond Griebe finished with 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
The contest was a tail of two halves with Claflin winning the first (35-24) and Virginia State winning the second (34-28).
The second half of the contest was a back-and-forth battle down the stretch.
After going into intermission down 35-24, the Trojans scored the first six points of the second stanza to cut the deficit to five, 35-30, at the 18:31 mark.
Claflin then scored five straight points to push its lead to 10 (40-30) with 17:07 remaining in the contest but Virginia State remained resilient. The Trojans scored six unanswered points to pull within four (40-36), forcing a Claflin timeout at the 15:18 mark.
Read the full article, originally shared via the Claflin University Newsroom.
