JC Smith positioned to make a move in CIAA basketball

JC SMITH ATHLETICS

Ashton Sherrill averages a team-best 16.1 points per game on 62.1% shooting for Johnson C. Smith.

With the CIAA basketball tournament less than three weeks away, Johnson C. Smith basketball is setting up for a run at the upper half of the South Division.

The Golden Bulls (10-9, 5-6) knocked off second-place Claflin 77-69 Monday at Brayboy Gym to pull within a game of the Panthers and Shaw in the division with five games left in the regular season. JCSU is improving at the right time, going 3-2 over their last five games, which included back-to-back overtime losses to Livingstone and Shaw followed by wins against Winston-Salem State and Claflin (12-9, 6-5).

The Golden Bulls are paced by forward Ashton Sherrill, who averages a team-best 16.1 points per game on 62.1% shooting, followed by Javon Anderson (13.4 ppg on 46.7% shooting) and center Asa White, who averages 10 points a game on 59% field goal accuracy.

The Golden Bulls can make immediate gains in the South over their next pair of games against in the division – against first place Fayetteville State (15-6, 7-3) Feb. 6 at Brayboy Gym, at struggling Winston-Salem State (3-18, 0-11) Feb. 11 and Shaw (11-9, 6-4) Feb. 15 in a nationally televised game on The Grio.

Although JCSU’s record is middling, the Golden Bulls are competitive. In addition to the consecutive overtime losses to Shaw and Livingstone, they’re 1-3 in one-possession games against CIAA opponents.
In the North Division, Lincoln (Pa.) has a stranglehold on first with a 9-1 CIAA record and 15-7 overall.

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