After three away games in five days, the Saint Augustine's University men's and women's basketball teams will hit the road again for a Saturday (January 18, 2014) CIAA doubleheader encounter against Winston-Salem State University in the MLK Classic at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C. Game times are 5 p.m. for the women and 7 p.m. for the men. In addition to the basketball games, the doubleheader will also feature a special tribute to the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Tickets are $12 for general admission seats, $20 for courtside seats and $15 for reserved seats. The price is $10 for children ages 6 to 18 and visiting college students with ID. Children ages 5 and under are admitted free. General parking is $8 and located in the lots surrounding the Coliseum.

This will be the fourth of five consecutive road games for the Falcons and Lady Falcons, but the first contest since January 13, 2014 when both teams traveled to play Virginia Union University. This is also the first of 10 games against Southern Division opponents which will determine a division champion and CIAA Tournament seeding. All six teams in the Southern Division have winning overall records which should make each game competitive.

The Lady Falcons (4-1 CIAA, 9-5 overall) enter the contest against WSSU on a roll, having won seven of their last eight games. They were 2-1 on the three-game road stretch against Northern Division teams. In victories against Bowie State University (73-69) and Virginia Union University (77-71), the Lady Falcons showed maturity for a squad full of sophomores and juniors by making key plays late.

They plan to display the same mental toughness against the Lady Rams (4-2 CIAA, 10-6 overall), who are unbeaten in conference games at home. The Lady Falcons will rely on their quickness and depth against the height of the Lady Rams, who have eight players 5-foot-10 or taller including five over 6-foot tall. Their size helps the Lady Rams rank third in field goal shooting while the Lady Falcons rank third in three-point shooting. The Lady Falcons have two players who stand 6-feet, but they rank higher in the CIAA than the Lady Rams in rebounding. The Lady Falcons average 10.4 steals per game off their pressure defense.

Sophomore guard Regime McCombs (Greenville, SC) leads the Lady Falcons with a 13.1 scoring average and she leads the CIAA in three-point shooting percentage (40.7). Sophomore forward Terri Jacobs (McDonough, GA) of the Lady Falcons is third in the league in rebounds per game (8.8) to go along with her 9.9 points. Guard Jasmine Elum and forward Dionna Scott average 14.6 points and 12 points, respectively, for the Lady Rams. Elum ranks fourth in the league in scoring and Scott ranks fifth in field goal percentage (50.4).

The Falcons (3-2 CIAA, 10-5 overall) are coming off two tough losses after winning their previous eight. They are looking to return to their winning ways against the Rams (4-2 CIAA, 9-7 overall), who had a three-game win streak end in their last contest against Elizabeth City State University on Monday, January 13. The Rams are 5-2 at home but the Falcons have shown the ability to win on the road as their 4-3 away record attests.

The Falcons' men will look to get going early behind junior guard Amere May (South Haven, MI), the CIAA scoring leader with a 20.4 average. He is one of three double figure scorers for the Falcons. Senior guard-forward Joel Kindred (Raleigh, NC) averages 15.1 points and senior center Jonathan Crawley (Richmond, VA) averages 12.5 points. Sophomore forward Daniel Clark (Danville, VA) and junior forward Tashaun Stockdale (Poplar, SC) both average 8.5 points for the Falcons, who are one of the deeper teams in the league. Seven Falcons average over five points. The Rams counter with guard Marquez Jones, who ranks third in the CIAA with a 19.9 scoring average. Forwards Preston Ross and WyKevin Bazemore average 16.9 points and 14.8 points respectively.

The men's contest features two of the highest-scoring and biggest teams in the CIAA. The Falcons are second in the league in scoring (81.7) and the Rams are third (80.9). As far as size, the Falcons have the 6-foot-9, 325-pound Crawley and the 6-foot-9 Clark as well as 6-foot-11 senior center Aru Kok (Perth, Australia) on the roster. The Rams have 7-foot center Brian Okam and 6-foot-10 junior Bryan Scott. The Falcons are first (43.3) and the Rams third (39.4) in rebounding. Bazemore of WSSU leads the conference with 9.5 rebounds while Crawley and Kindred of the Falcons average 7.9 and 7.8 rebounds, respectively. Kindred finished with a career-high 18 rebounds in addition to 16 points in Monday's loss to Virginia Union.