RALEIGH -- N.C. Central’s hopes to play in the CIAA championship for the second time in four years ran into a wall Friday night. A very big human wall.

Bowie State’s bulky 6-9 forward Tim Washington led his team with 24 points and 10 rebounds as the Bulldogs reached the title game for the first time in school history with a 99-87 victory in the semifinals.

But Washington, who began his career at Division I American University, wasn’t the only big man who excelled for the 25-4 Bulldogs, who became the first men’s team from outside North Carolina to make the championship game since the tournament moved here in 1999.

Jon Smith, a skywalking 6-9 transfer from Virginia Tech, added 14 points on 7-for-8 field-goal shooting while 6-9 Shawn Hampton, who began his career at Rutgers, added 12 points off the bench and didn’t miss any kind of shot all night.

Add in 30 points from the starting backcourt of Omarr Smith (16 points) and Cornelius McMurray and the Bulldogs had all the scoring they needed.

"In my opinion, [Washington and Smith] are the two best post players in the CIAA — along with Shawn Hampton," Bowie State coach Luke D’Alessio said of his big men. "We didn’t have to rely on our outside shooting and North Carolina Central has to."

And except for a seven-minute cold stretch in the second half, the Eagles (16-13), who took the favored Bulldogs into the locker room tied at 44-44 at the break, almost shot their way into the final.

Charles Nickens, who hit 5-for-12 from outside the stripe, and James Tucker, who was 3-for-7 from 3-point range, led the Eagles with 19 points apiece. Michael Noel added 12 points and Shawn Ray 11, the latter scoring all his points on a trio of 3-pointers and a first-half buzzer-beater from just inside the line, as they and three senior teammates played their final game in NCCU maroon and gray.

"We fought hard and gave it all we had," said Eagles coach Phil Spence, who was CIAA coach of the year after leading NCCU to its first winning season in four years and a tie for the Western Division championship. "We just didn’t shoot the ball particularly well. Bowie proved to be too big for us. ... They are big and skilled. Maybe this is their year. You never know."

Bowie, which defeated the Eagles 92-76 in their regular-season meeting on Jan. 7 at the Bulldogs’ Jordan Arena, shot 63 percent for the game, including 75 percent in the second half. The winners outrebounded NCCU only 36-31, but was 34-for-48 from the free-throw line to 16-for-22 for the Eagles.

The Bulldogs led by as many as seven points in the first half, that at 29-22 on a Hampton jumper with 7:37 left in the period.

But NCCU responded with a run, taking its biggest lead at 41-36 on a Nickens 3-pointer with 1:50 left.

The Eagles’ last lead was 47-46 as Ray hit his first 3-pointer with 19:32 to play. NCCU trailed 69-60 following a Tucker 3-pointer with 11:52 left before going on a long field-goal drought. NCCU’s next field goal was a Ray 3-pointer with 4:13 left, cutting the deficit to 21 points just after the Bulldogs had put together their biggest lead of the game.

That started a late Eagles rally. D’Alessio had slowly cleared his bench, but when Nickens hit his second 3-pointer in a nine-second span to cut the advantage to 94-85 with 58 seconds left, there was suddenly the comical sight of four Bulldogs starters falling all over themselves in a scramble to get to the scorer’s table.

"It made me feel good that we at least made them do that," Spence said.

Added Noel, "We wanted to show we hadn’t given up. We refused to give up all season. We did the best we could, but they were just so much bigger."

Ray echoed all the comments about the Bulldogs’ size being the difference in the game.

"Those are some trees inside there," Ray said. "They are really big. But that wasn’t in my mind. Petey [Noel] was in my ear all night to keep trying to get my shot.

"I had a great three years at North Carolina Central. It was tough winning just eight games and nine games in my first two years [after transferring from Voorhees]. But we had a good season. This is a great bunch of guys and a great coaching staff. I’m going to miss all of them."

NOTES — NCCU is 7-4 at the RBC Center, including 5-3 during Spence’s three seasons here. ... Ray finished his NCCU career with 1,216 points, 428 rebounds, 215 assists, 166 steals and 63 blocked shots. He also finished at 77.97 percent from the free-throw line, the best number in NCCU history among players who attempted at least 200 charity shots.