VUU nets 76-65 win over Bowie
Fred Jeter | 2/16/2023, 6 p.m.
Just when you think Robert Osborne has hit full stride, he shifts into an even higher gear.
The Virginia Union University senior forward has entered the final week of the regular season with his foot to the pedal.
They don’t call him “The Wizard of Os” for nothing.
In front of BCSBN cameras, Osborne had 33 points (14-for-24 from the field), nine rebounds, four assists and four steals in VUU’s 76-65 Feb. 11 home win over Bowie State.
The victory clinched VUU’s second straight Northern Division title under Coach Jay Butler.
Individually, it marked perhaps the top performance of Osborne’s career in Maroon & Steel and among the elite outings by any Panther in recent seasons.
Osborne has been sensational throughout his senior campaign. The smooth, 6-foot-5 south- paw out of Hermitage High leads the CIAA in scoring (20.6), is second in rebounds (8.9), second in shooting percentage (.545) and third in assists (3.2).
Next up is the “Downtown Showdown,” the regular season finale Saturday, Feb. 18, against invading Virginia State at Barco-Stevens Hall. The Trojans have lost their last two, most recently at Bowie State 75-55 on BCSBN.
VSU has three of the CIAA’s top performers in Terrence Hunter-Whitfield (second in league with 18.1 scoring average), B.J. Fitzgerald (first with .444 shooting from beyond the arc) and Zach Newkirk (first in assists with 99).
After Saturday, all CIAA teams head to Baltimore for the men’s and women’s CIAA tournaments taking place Feb. 20-25.
