Late free throws give Winston-Salem State win in CIAA tournament title game
Robert Colon missed out on the CIAA’s player of the year but earned a bigger prize on its grandest stage.
Colon, Winston-Salem State’s senior guard, drained three free throws with 4.6 seconds left in the Rams’ 63-62 win against Fayetteville State Saturday at the tournament final at Spectrum Center, delivering the program’s first championship since 2011. His tournament run was earned Colon, who lost the regular season MVP award to Livingstone’s Roger Ray, the tournament award.
“When I’m in the gym late at night with my teammates, we’ll shoot like 50 free throws before we leave, so it’s routine,” said Colon, who led all scorers with 25 points, including 18 in the second half.
Winston-Salem State (19-10), the Southern Division’s second seed, rallied from an 11-point deficit at the four-minute media timeout to deliver the school’s 12th tournament title. No. 3 South seed Fayetteville State had the Rams on the brink of elimination, but there was another run in them.
“I had a quick look at their eyes and saw they were still attentive,” Rams coach Cleo Hill Jr. said. “I didn’t see any shoulders drooping. I didn’t see any heads down. That kind of propelled my energy, along with our coaching staff. From there we wanted to hang our hat on what we have all year, and that’s on the defensive end.”
Said Fayetteville State coach Luke D’Alessio: “It must have been a great game for fans to watch. We’re the two best defensive teams in the league, we play a really tough man-to-man defense and try to outrebound the other team. It was a great opportunity for us, but we came up a little short, but I give a lot of credit to Winston-Salem. They made the plays when they had to.”
Fayetteville State had one final crack at a game-winning shot after Colon’s third free throw, but Jalen Spicer’s jumper bounced off the rim, setting off a jubilant on-court celebration. For a team expected to be no better than average in preseason polling of the league’s coaches, Winston-Salem State surpassed expectations.
“It felt good to get a ring,” Colon said. “We haven’t had a ring in a long time. It was a new group. A lot of people doubted us, ranked us No. 8 because a lot of guys left, but we came out No. 1. I ain’t going to say anything else, but just call us champs.”
Colon had a key defensive moment in the comeback, forcing a held ball that swung possession for Winston-Salem State that resulted in a Rams basket and capped it with his free throws to put the Rams, who left the Division II CIAA for a brief flirtation with Division I only to return to the league where they were basketball royalty, back on the basketball map.
