Taylor, a senior from Salisbury, came off the bench to lead Winston-Salem State’s scoring in the Rams’ 98-82 CIAA basketball victory over Livingstone’s Blue Bears on Saturday night.

The 6-foot point guard scored 14 points to lead a balanced attack for the defending CIAA champions. Four teammates were also in double figures, and 14 players scored for coachRick Duckett’s club, which improved to 11-2 overall and 2-0 in the CIAA’s Western Division.

Livingstone, led by forward Nigel Black’s 3-point shooting and 19 points, was playing its first Western Division game. The Bears, coached by Charles McCullough, are 4-8 overall.

“It’s the first time my whole family’s got a chance to see me play, so I wanted to do well,” said Taylor. “It felt good coming home.”

The 22-year-old Taylor plans to attend graduate school after graduating next spring with a degree in marketing.

The son of Raymond and Elise Taylor, Bradley is one of six Taylors who played sports at Salisbury High School. He started at point guard for the Hornets’ strong 1994 team that went 20-8.

“We had Bobby Phillips (27.4 average) and Marvin Dixon (15.7). I was really a distributor. I scored when I had to,” said Taylor, who averaged 7.3 as a senior and scored a career-high 20 against Albemarle.

Taylor, who had his college career-high game of 21 against Virginia Union in the CIAA Tournament last season, says he’s a much better player than he was in high school.

He waited a year to attend college, but Winston-Salem’s coaching staff had seen him play AAU basketball.

“It’s been great. They gave me a second chance coming out of high school. I had to go up there and work hard, and I fit in well with their program. It worked out well,” he said. He’s spent five years in the Rams’ program, counting one red-shirt season.

“I kind of improved and made up my mind I wanted to be a college player. I kind of stuck to it and really got it done. ... I’ve been splitting time with the other point guards. Sometimes I start, sometimes I come off the bench,” said Taylor.

He played 14 minutes, almost as much as the starters, on Saturday and was 5-for-7 from the floor and 4-for-6 at the foul line for his 14 points. He also contributed three assists, a rebound and a steal.

Can the Rams repeat as CIAA champions?

“No doubt. We’re even stronger this year. We had like eight guys returning. I think we can make another run at it this year,” he said.

Coach McCullough of the Bears agreed.

“I think that they can be (CIAA champs). Larry Patterson is kind of the glue for that team. ... They work to their strength on offense. They know Larry Patterson can shoot, so they work and make sure he gets to touch it three or four times before anybody else puts it up,” said the Livingstone coach.

Patterson didn’t have to shoot that much, going 4-for-8 from the floor, but three were 3-pointers.He had 12 points in 20 minutes.

“The guards are very good, the whole corps of guards. Bradley Taylor: He did a good job. ... They’ve got an excellent team, well-coached and disciplined,” McCullough added.

As for his own team, the Livingstone coach was disappointed with the way the Bears handled the Rams’ pressure defense. Livingstone was close at 38-35 after Perry Smith’s basket with 3:40 to play in the half.

“We lost it right here,” said McCullough, pointing under one of the baskets. “All of a sudden we turned the ball over about four out of five possessions right under our basket.”

The Rams went on an 11-0 run, and it was 49-35 at intermission.

Winston-Salem extended that run to 18-0 in the opening minutes of the second half, making it 56-35. When Livingstone’s Rodney Gidney scored with 17:35 left in the game, it snapped the Bears’ scoreless streak at 6:05.

The Bears made 29 turnovers.

“That’s something I really didn’t expect,” said McCullough. “I thought we had enough key ballhandlers and we knew what to do in terms of getting the ball down the floor.”

Black went 6-for-16, including 5-for-15 on 3-pointers, while scoring his game-high 19. Gidney tallied 14, while Peter Anders and Cornelius Gordon added 11 and 10, respectively.

“We’ve got a couple of people who can shoot, but we’re not that disciplined,” said McCullough. “Until we do that, we’re going to have some problems. Nigel can shoot with anybody. We’re not really moving it around. We’re impatient. Everybody thinks they can shoot it. Before it gets back to Nigel, somebody will take one of those misguided missiles.”

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