shaw
beaten by BULLDOGS
Bears Nearly Complete Come From Behind
Win
December 19, 2007 – Raleigh, NC – The Shaw University Bears opened up their athletic sanctuary for their final home contest of the year against the Wingate University Bulldogs. Although the Bears awoke out of their first half coma to bewilder the Bulldogs 44 – 38 in the second half, Wingate was able to theft the road triumph, 83 – 69.
The Bears led 2 – 0 after a steal and tip-in by #20 Robert Espinosa (Forward / 6 – 7 / Senior / Plainfield, NJ). However, Head Coach Robert Brickey called for a thirty second timeout at the 16:10 mark as WU took a 4 – 2 lead, but more importantly as WU’s high octane offense seemed to position Brickey’s Bears on the balls of their feet. The Bulldogs blatantly ignored Shaw’s attempt to reverse or even slow down their tempo as they sped off for a 14 – 3 scoring spurt. WU whisked their largest point margin advantage to lead by 22 points just inside 10 minutes. Shortly thereafter, the Bears belly flopped into double figures, 30 – 10 WU, with a turn-a-round jumper by #42 Dominik Allen (Forward / 6 – 6 / Junior / Detroit, MI). Shaw began to gain footing in the game, but made minuscule cuts at WU’s large lead as the Bulldogs answered every two scores by the Bears with four scores of their own. Shaw trailed 25 – 45 at the break.
In the first seven minutes of the second half, the Bulldogs maintained momentum to increase their lead to 23 points, 53 – 30 WU. However, the Bears’ “sixth man” began to make its presence known as Shaw spurted on a 13 – 2 scoring run to considerably chef cut their point deficit; which was capped by an “And One” play by #30 Damola Obadina (Forward / 6 – 5 / Senior / Minneapolis, MN) and a towering three-pointer by Espinosa. Two minutes later, “Shaw U” fans would erupt out of their packed-to-capacity pews as Espinosa dropped in two points and completed the free-throw after receiving an assist from Allen that was as smooth as Bonnet® butter! Then, #1 Will “Takeover” Graham (Guard / 5 – 10 / Junior / Minneapolis, MN) made two scores before delivering a bounce pass to Allen for the jumper. Allen returned almost three minutes later to escort Shaw within six points, 68 – 62 WU, with another assist from Mr. Graham. Inside the three minutes mark, the Bears kept the Bulldogs within reach with a water park wet three-pointer by #34 John “Kash” Kornegay (Guard / 5 – 10 / Senior / Detroit, MI). Nevertheless, WU worked the ball inside to produce two big baskets and made good of trips to the charity stripe in the closing seconds.
Shaw University had four players to finish in double figures. The top performer was #1 Will Graham with a game high 19 points (nine rebounds / three assists / three steals). Providing additional scoring was #20 Robert Espinosa with 17 points (nine rebounds / two steals), #42 Dominik Allen with 11 points (three rebounds / one assist / two steals), and #34 John Kornegay with 10 points (three rebounds / one assist / two steals). Leading all rebounding efforts was #30 Damola Obadina with 12.
The Shaw University Bears look to have a happy new year as they open the 2008 portion of their season on Wednesday, January 2nd against Claflin University. The game is schedule to be held in C. C. Spaulding Gymnasium with tip-off set for 7:00 p.m.
