The Yellow Jackets had a tough game on their hands right from the start Friday night when they took on Johnson C. Smith in the first round of the Earl Lloyd Conference Challenge.
They fought hard and led for a large part of the night but in the end WVSU just could not get enough shots to fall their way while the visitors seemed to be unable to miss at times leading to an 81-78 Jacket loss.
The Golden Bulls edged ahead early but Yellow Jacket sophomore Alex Osburn tied the score and then gave WVSU a 17-15 lead with back-to back tip-ins.
Ernest Jenkins followed by draining back-to-back 3-pointers.
But he picked up his second foul not long after and spent several minutes on the bench the rest of the half.
Still the Yellow Jackets maintained a lead the rest of the period and went into the break with a 41-38 advantage.
The Golden Bulls' Robert Davis took a pass going down the lane and converted the layup to pull the visitors even at 46-46 at the 15:27 mark of the second half.
He followed with a three-point play to make the score 49-46 in favor of the visitors.
A pair of Johnson-Agwu buckets inside sandwiched around a Jenkins 3-pointer gave WVSU the lead again at 53-49.
J.C. Smith took the lead back with 9:39 to play at 61-60 on a short jumper by Roddric Ross.
The Golden Bulls extended that to 64-60 and the lead bounced between one and six points the rest of the way.
WVSU kept the pressure on until the very end as Jenkins hit a 3-pointer from the left side to make the score 79-76 with about 40 seconds left.
The Jackets held on defense and came down the court with a chance to tie the game with 15 seconds remaining but Robert Fomby's 3-point attempt from the top of the key rimmed out.
J.C. Smith scored on a driving lay-in to make it 81-76 and Johnson-Agwu drove for a dunk in the closing seconds to account for the final score.
The Golden Bulls were able to hit shots from a variety of angles and ended up shooting 53.7 percent from the floor, 79.2 from the free throw line, and a torrid 50 percent from 3-point range.
The Yellow Jackets had trouble getting the ball to drop all evening hitting just 37.7 percent of their field goal attempts, 52.2 percent from the charity stripe, and 24.2 from beyond the arc.
A 48-35 rebound advantage that included 19 offensive boards, made up somewhat for the shooting difference.
Johnson-Agwu paced the WVSU effort with 22 points and 14 rebounds while Jenkins added 17 points and Jerry Moore 15 along with 11 rebounds.
The Yellow Jackets face Elizabeth City State at 4 p.m. Saturday next.
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Game 1 recap --
Elizabeth City State gave new Head Coach John Hill a win in his first game by defeating the University of Virginia at Wise 85-68 in the opening game of the Earl Lloyd Conference Challenge.
A layup by Charles Wood with 7:39 to play in the first half gave ECSU a 23-22 lead and started a 10-0 run that ended with the Vikings leading 31-22. The Cavaliers never recovered.
ECSU led 46-32 at halftime. UVa-Wise cut it to 50-45 early in the second half but the Vikings immediately reeled off seven straight points to regain control.
Woods led ECSU with 17 points and nine rebounds. Tajh Eason paced the Cavaliers with 15 points.
The Vikings hit 56.9 percent from the floor and pulled down 36 rebounds. UVa-Wise could sink just 41.3 percent and lost the battle on the boards with just 24 rebounds.
