RALEIGH -- Shawn Ray played like a man on a mission Thursday afternoon, and his N.C. Central teammates followed his example.

The senior All-CIAA swingman scored 29 points, including 5-for-9 from 3-point range and 6-for-6 from the line, as the Eagles topped a hard-working Fayetteville State team 85-75 in the quarterfinals of the CIAA Tournament at the RBC Center.

The victory earned the Eagles (16-12) a spot in tonight’s 7 p.m. semifinal against Bowie State, which beat Johnson C. Smith.

FSU finished its season 11-17, with three losses to NCCU, including a pair of one-point decisions during the regular season.

Ray had six assists, five rebounds, two steals and a block without a turnover.

"It’s real sweet to me to get to play in the semifinals for the first time," Ray said of tonight’s doubleheader, which like Saturday’s championship game, will be a hard sellout of 20,000-plus. "But it’s not going to be complete until we can hold the trophy up on Saturday night. Every day we go in [McLendon-McDougald Gym] to practice we see that banner that says Central won the championship in 1950."

That was the second and last time NCCU won the CIAA men’s title. Not even the NCAA Division II championship team of 1989 won the CIAA, although that team did play in the finals as did the Eagles in 1993 and then in 1999 in the tournament’s first appearance in this building.

The Eagles earned a first-round bye but knew they would be up for a tough assignment in playing the Broncos again after winning a pair of squeakers.

So they had to put together an impressive statistical line to do it — 13-for-31 from 3-point range, 16-for-19 from the line and just four turnovers, including only one in the second half.

The Eagles’ point guard duo of Michael Noel and James Tucker came up big — Tucker had 15 points on 4-for-5 shooting from 3-point range, while Noel added 13 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, and four assists.

"The boys played really well today," Eagles coach Phil Spence said. "We were excited to be here and excited to get the bye."

Spence, who started his five seniors for the fifth straight game, said he wasn’t concerned about having to beat a solid FSU team three times.

"Oh, it’s hard to beat anybody any time," said Spence, whose five seniors include four players who transferred to NCCU and gutsy walk-on center Alex Smith. "I’d rather come into a tournament after beating somebody two times instead of losing to them twice."

NCCU won despite a huge game from Broncos senior forward Bryan Chapman, who finished with 30 points while Kenny Haywood added 12 and Stephen Bernard 11.

"Chapman is a load," said Ray, who guarded FSU’s go-to guy most of the time when the Eagles were in a man-to-man.

First-season Broncos coach Sam Hanger said he was proud of his team’s effort.

"We’ve had a lot of adversity this season, and we played a good team today," said Hanger, who had only seven players see significant playing time while Spence used 11 players.

"Their depth was a big difference in the game today. It’s tough when they can run 11 guys and always have several 3-point shooters who can come off the bench. [NCCU] was pretty sharp today. And when we gambled and went to a zone, it looked like all we did was get them warmed up."

The Eagles hit seven 3-pointers over the final 6:01 of the first half, taking the lead for good at 26-24 on Charles Nickens’ long shot with 3:57 left in the period and taking a 40-27 lead into the locker room.

But Chapman, who had only five points in the first half, went on a tear, cutting the Eagles’ lead to 47-44 with 14:40 left on a 3-pointer to end a run in which he alone outscored the Eagles 13-5.

Ray responded with 10 points during an NCCU run that gave the Eagles their biggest lead at 66-50.

The biggest shot of the game may have come with 5:38 left when Tucker, who had missed his previous 3-point attempt, canned one from the right side to put NCCU up 69-56.

"You just get open, follow through and hope it goes in," Tucker said of his 3-point shooting.

Noel then locked up the game by hitting 5 of 6 free throws while Ray also hit a pair.

"We just knew we had to stay focused down the stretch [after the two previous nail-biters with the Broncos]," Noel said. "This time we were able to do that."

Chapman and Haywood each had seven rebounds as the Broncos won the board battle 37-27.

"I just wanted to go out and play as hard as I could," Chapman said. "It’s been fun. This has been a good year."