Bears beaten by bowie
Shaw's First Round Hot Hand Cooled Off in Quarterfinals

February 28, 2008 – Charlotte, NC – The 10th seeded Shaw University Bears were unable to extended their tournament play as they were defeated by the 2nd seeded Bowie State University Bulldogs, 77 – 59. Shaw concludes their season with an Overall Record 5 – 23, 1 – 17 CIAA, and 1 – 7 Division.

At the start of the first half, the Bears were bitten by the Bulldogs with an opening 18 – 0 scoring run. Unfortunately, things got worse before they got better as Bowie followed with an 12 – 3 run to take a 20 – 3 lead with a little more than ten minutes left in the first half. Shaw shot a frigid 26.3% (five of 19) from the field. Nevertheless, Shaw survived their opponent’s vicious attack with a 72.2% (eight of 11) free throw percentage. The Bulldogs buried nine more baskets (14 of 36) for a 38.9% field goal percentage. Despite missing all eleven attempts from three-point territory, Bowie possessed an eleven point lead at halftime.

In the second half, the Bears fanned their barely burning offensive fire to increase their field goal percentage to 38.2% (13 of 34). However, compared to Bowie’s barnyard blaze (19 of 36 for 52.8% field goal percentage); Shaw’s small flame amounted to that of a low fueled cigarette lighter. The Bulldogs galloped off on a 10 – 0 scoring run in the first two minutes and went on to put together a point margin as plump as 26 points at the 15:34 mark. Shaw did not raise the white flag to surrender as they sliced Bowie’s lead to eleven; mainly from the charity stripe as they were 10 of 13 (76.9%).  

Both senior forward #30 Damola Obadina and senior guard #34 John Kornegay led the Bears’ offensive efforts with 11 points each. For the second time in the tournament, Shaw was led in rebounding by senior forward #20 Robert Espinosa.  

Detroit, MI native Kornegay was named Food Lion’s MVP of the game for Shaw University Bears.