Charlotte, NC – Fayetteville State men's basketball opened its CIAA Southern Division schedule on a positive note with an 85-62 dub over Johnson C. Smith in Brayboy Gymnasium. Four Broncos scored in double figures with Charlotte native Nakia Rivers and Mark Burton (Tokyo, Japan) scoring 19 points each. Joshua Bryant (Fayetteville, NC) and Raymon Pratt (Greensboro, NC) closed out with 10 points each.
 
Fayetteville State (3-11 overall; 2-5 CIAA) shot a season-best 52.5% from the field (31 of 59) and won the battle on the boards with a 41-30 advantage over Johnson C. Smith (3-10; 2-6) to start the Divisional season with a 1-0 record.
 
The Broncos kept it close in the first half trailing 36-32 at intermission with 12 second-chance points from rebounding and seven points off six Golden Bulls turnovers.
 
Things picked up in the second half for the Broncos following a dunk by Will Brown (Myrtle Beach, SC) that tied the game at 42 with 14:19 on the clock.  The dunk sparked a 19-9 run by FSU that gave the Broncos a double-digit lead 61-51 with 9:06 left in the game.
 
Nakia Rivers dropped four three-pointers, 12 of his 19 points, during the span to set the spread. The points kept on pouring from there. In addition to Rivers three's, Mark Burton lit up three of his own and knocked down 4 of 5 free throws. All of Burton's 19 points came in the second half.
 
The Broncos reached its largest lead of 25 (81-56) when Burton hit his last three of the game with 1:43 left in the game.
 
Burton led the team with five dimes while Joshua Bryant tied Will Brown with eight rebounds. Brown was one-point shy of scoring 10 points.
 
Johnson C. Smith went scoreless for about five minutes during the run. The Golden Bulls shot 37% (20 of 54) from the floor and 66.7% (14 of 21) from the free throw line. The Broncos made 10-of-23 three-pointers (43.5%) and 13 of 18 (72.2%) from the charity stripe. For the game, FSU had 15 points off turnovers (JCSU had two) and 20 second-chance points to the Golden Bulls five points.
 
JCSU's Roddric Ross led the game with 24 points while Justice Goodloe tipped in ten.
 
Fayetteville State will host Claflin University on Monday, January 21^st at 7:30 p.m. in Capel Arena. The Broncos will be honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the game.