Rams 'Shock'ingly defeat WAU, 100-84

In front of an extremely rambunctious C.E. Gaines Center audience the Winston-Salem State Rams (15-2, 7-0 CIAA) took the charge out the Washington Adventist Shock (7-11) 100-82 on Jan. 24.

This is the second time WSSU scored 100 points and the fourth time they have scored more than 95 points.

All four games that the Rams scored more than 95 points have been against non-conference opponents.

The Rams relied on a strong second half effort to push themselves to victory.

After the first half that saw the Rams miss their first 10 shots from the field, Head Coach Bobby Collins was still confident the team would pull out the win.

Collins said that he wanted to attack the basket early.

"We just didn't start off well. We were missing too many shots," Collins said.

"But the fans really stayed behind the team and continued to push them and I think that is what it was that gave us the boost we needed to pull off the victory tonight."

The Rams defense kept them in the game in the first half forcing nine turnovers.

WSSU went into the half trailing by one 38-39.

The Rams started the second half by going on a 20-10 run to give them the lead for good.

"We just believe in coach and doing what he tells us," said Wakefield Ellison, a forward.

"Things came together once things began to click."

Ellison shot 6-for-9 from the field scoring 18 points and pulling down five rebounds and four steals.

"I knew I could take advantage of their size tonight since they were a smaller team," Ellison said.

The Rams took advantage of plenty of trips to the charity stripe shooting 31-for-43 from the free throw line.

"We work on that [free throws] every day in practice," Ellison said.

"We spend 20 minutes on it and the coaches do a good job preparing us."

Junior guard, Justin Glover took advantage of the trips to the foul line hitting 10-12 free throws and scoring 17 points.

"I need Justin [Glover] to be a scorer for us when he does that we are a tough team to beat," Collins said.

The Rams fed the post early and often in the second half. Freshman forward WyKevin Bazemore continued to be a force in the paint pulling down 12 rebounds and scoring 13 points.

"I just wanted to come out and assert myself on the glass and help my team to a victory," Bazemore said.

Fellow big man, junior forward Joseph Thompson, turned in a good performance as well.

Thompson scored 16 points and sparked the team's run by scoring 12 points in the second half.

"Their big men [Shock] were in foul trouble and we wanted to attack their interior and put pressure on them," Collins said.

"Thompson capitalized on his chances and was really leaving the floor. I can't remember the last time he did that so much."

This was the first non-conference game since the Tampa Classic when the Rams lost both games against Eckerd College and Tampa Spartans, in late December.

"It was a little difficult coming out of conference play to play a non-conference game," Collins said.

"I believe that this game will get us ready to face our upcoming conference foes that have good guard play."

Coach Collins said that the team didn't play well and he continues to give all of the credit to the fans.

"Our fans energize us and really make the team play harder,"he said.

"This was the most fun that I have ever had coaching a game in my career."

The rest of the Rams season is conference competition with  visits to Johnson C. Smith and Livingstone quickly approaching.

"Playing against a team that has a good guard like the one we faced tonight will prepare for our games aganist JCSU."