Falcons Advance! SAU Downs Shaw in CIAA Tourney

BALTIMORE (Feb. 23) – Saint Augustine’s University Falcons made clutch free throws down the stretch to edge crosstown rival Shaw University 64-61 in a men’s basketball first-round thriller at the CIAA Tournament inside Royal Farms Arena on Wednesday.

The 11th-seeded Falcons (7-20 overall) advanced to Thursday’s quarterfinals to face No. 3 seed Winston-Salem State at 8 p.m. Shaw, the No. 6 seed, finished its season at 11-12 overall.

Josh Page (Sr./Washington, DC) and Dhashon Dyson (So./Chicago) combined to make five of six free throws with 38 seconds left to hold off a furious Shaw rally in the second half. The Falcons led by 16 at halftime.

Dyson swished two free throws with four seconds left for a 64-61 lead, but the game wasn’t sealed until Shaw missed a three-pointer as time expired.

Jaylen Richard (Jr./Durham, NC) scored 14 points and Page added 13 points for the Falcons, who reached the CIAA quarterfinals for the first time since 2016. Todd Smith (Sr./Burlington, NC) pumped in 12 points and Richard grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

“I call us the Cardiac Falcons,” SAU Head Coach MarQus Johnson said. “We gutted out a win this morning.”

Dyson scored eight points and Christopher Hill (Jr./Charlotte, NC) scored seven points and distributed a season-high nine assists for the Falcons, who made 20 of 23 free throws for 87 percent and canned 10 of 22 three-pointers for 45.5 percent.

Caleb Simmons and Corey Rutherford each scored 12 points for the Bears, who made 15 of 21 free throws for 71.4 percent and 6 of 19 three-pointers for 31.6 percent.

The contest between the crosstown rivals was energetic as expected.

Smith scored nine points and Richard had eight points and five rebounds in the first half as the Falcons spurted out to a 37-21 halftime lead. The Bears mounted a furious rally in the second half to take a two-point lead on Denari Garrett’s jumper.

The Falcons regained the lead 59-53 with three minutes left on Richard’s three-pointer. They relied on free throws by Page and Dyson to fend off another Bears’ rally and clinch the win.

(Courtesy of Saint Augustine’s Athletics)