Junior guard Daryl Traynham scored a team-high 23 points to lead the Livingstone Blue Bears to its second straight Central Interscholastic Athletic Association (CIAA) men’s basketball championship title with a dominating 106-91 win over Winston-Salem State (WSS) on Feb. 28 at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, N.C. Livingstone is now the first school to win back-to-back CIAA basketball championships since Johnson C. Smith pulled off the special feat during the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
“This is a great day for Livingstone basketball,” Blue Bears’ head coach James Stinson said, according to Livingstone’s Sports Information Office. “The guys came out with a purpose. I loved their focus throughout the game. Overall, they persevered and did the job at hand. When I walked into the locker room, they were fully tuned in to what the goals were.”
Livingstone had its way with WSS offensively, scoring from any and everywhere on the court. The Blue Bears pounded WSS inside the paint for points and torched them from the outside with hot three-point shooting. Traynham led the way with 23 points, but senior forward Eric Maynor followed up with 22 points. Three other players also scored double digits in points for the Blue Bears, including junior guard Eric Dubose with 18 points and junior guard and CIAA Tournament MVP Ty Newman with 13.
Three players scored at least 20 points for WSS, despite the loss. Senior forward WyKevin Bazemore led WSS with 24 points, freshman guard Terrell Leach scored 23, and senior forward Donta Harper added 20.
Winston-Salem ends its season with an 18-10 overall record, while Livingstone (19-9 overall) moves on to the NCAA Division II basketball tournament, scheduled to start mid-March.