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#11 STATESMEN DOWN CCBC DUNDALK IN SEASON OPENER

#11 STATESMEN DOWN CCBC DUNDALK IN SEASON OPENER

PETERSBURG, Va. – Richard Bland coach Chuck Moore wanted to challenge his team early in the season.

Facing a tough opponent, the eleventh-ranked Statesmen got all they could handle from the Lions of CCBC Dundalk before pulling away for a 76-68 win Saturday afternoon in the season opener for both teams.

"What a way to start the year off, Dundalk came out and played very well," Moore said. "Overall we showed some fight in us, we had some guys gain some valuable experience and our sophomores showed they were able to handle hostile situations."

The Statesmen is trying to build off of last season's loss to Wake Tech in the conference semi-finals of the Region X tournament. The Statesmen have been one step away from the championship since the 1990's era and hope this time they can get there. Wins like Saturday will help.

In the first half, both teams shot over 50–percent from the field but the Statesmen would go on a 10-0 run to lead going into intermission at 35-34.

Tavon Mealy (Richmond, VA) led all scorers at the half with 10 points while both Ugochukwu Onweudiegwu and Anthony Bennett accounted for seven apiece for Dundalk.

The Statesmen opened up the second half on a run as they outscored the Lions, 26-9 in a nine minute span. But just as it appeared that Richard Bland had control, Dundalk answered back and took lead at the 16 minute mark.

As the Statesmen saw themselves trailing midway through the second half, Avery Ugba (Silver Springs, MD) ignited a spark defensively and offensively to cut down the Lions lead, following an alley-hoop dunk by Brain Adkins (Aberdeen, MD) from Lequan Thomas (Virginia Beach, VA) to get the Statesmen fired up and regain momentum.

From there the Statesmen built an eleven point lead with minutes left in the game until the Lions' Onweudiegwu scored seven unanswered points to bring the Lions within four at the 2:38 mark.

Richard Bland then scored the next four points all at the free-throw line by Reginald Moses (Henrico, VA) to put the game away.

Avery Ugba (Silver Springs, MD) finished the game with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Tavon Mealy (Richmond, VA) hauled in 17 points and eleven rebounds. Reginald Moses (Henrico, VA) who shot a perfect 5-5 from field goal range and 6-6 from the free-throw line chipped in 17 points off the bench.

"We are an unselfish team, each game someone is going to step up. These guys are competitors and they have talent," Moore added. "This game is going to get us better".

The Statesmen return to action on Saturday, Nov. 8th when they travel to Potomac State College of West Virginia. Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m.

For more information on RBC men's basketball, please visit www.rbcathletics.com.

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