The
tale of two bears – part II
Bears Lose to Lenoir-Rhyne On The Road
November 29, 2007
– Hickory, NC – The Shaw
University Bears hit the highway for their second regular season road game
against the Lenoir-Rhyne College Bears. The Shaw Bears were dealt a double
digit defeat as LRC took the triumph 76 – 61, stopping Shaw from sweeping
the two game series.
Shaw seized possession of the opening tip-off. However, LRC leaped on the
scoreboard for a 6 – 2 lead after back-to-back behind the arc baskets by #22
Josh Rudder. Shaw sliced their point deficit to one (7 – 8) with a spotted
up three-pointer by #1 Will Graham (Guard / 5 – 10 / Junior /
Minneapolis, MN). Nevertheless, Head Coach Robert Brickey
requested his first timeout at the 13:01 mark after #40 Josh Kindred
deposited three straight scores to give the LRC Bears a 14 – 7 lead. Shaw
snatched their first lead of the game 17 – 16 at the 6:20 mark following a
direction-changing banked in jumper by #34 John Kornegay (Guard / 5 – 10
/ Senor / Detroit, MI) and a fast break left hand lay-up by #23
Camontae Griffin (Guard / 5 – 8 / Junior / Baltimore, MD). Two minutes
later, LRC retook the lead 20 – 17 after a dunk by #23 D.J. Blackmon and a
fast-break lay-up by Rudder. The fourth lead change of the game occurred
when Shaw’s Griffin made a shot and the free-throw after being fouled on the
play. Shaw led 21 – 20 with two minutes remaining. With all zeros on the
game clock, both Bears were tied 24 – 24 at halftime.
In the second half’s first five minutes of play, the game was tied on three additional occasions before Shaw stood in the forefront with a 35 – 32. The Shaw Bears took their second full timeout at the 12:24 mark after LRC’s #24 Ryan Crawford had a successful shot attempt from three-point territory to give the home team a seven point margin advantage (44 – 37 LRC). Over the next eight minutes, LRC assembled their largest lead of 15 points (65 – 50). Just under the two minute mark, the Shaw Bears made valid efforts to remain competitive. The Bears’ #20 Robert Espinosa (Forward / 6 – 7 / Junior / Plainfield, NJ) steered Shaw’s offense mainly shooting a long-range two-pointer and tossing in a backwards lay-up before a timeout was taken. Unfortunately, the Shaw Bears were forced to foul in the closing seconds as the LRC Bears barricaded their lead with last second conversions from the charity stripe.
Shaw had four Bears to score in double figures. Leading all scorers was
#1 Will Graham with 14 points (three rebounds / one assist / four
steals). Providing additional scoring was #30 Damola Obadina (Forward / 6
– 5 / Senior / Minneapolis, MN) with 12 points (nine rebounds / one
assist / one steal), #20 Robert Espinosa with 11 points (nine
rebounds / two steals), and #34 John Kornegay with 10 points (two
rebounds). Obadina and Espinosa were one rebound shy of a double double with
nine rebounds each as the Shaw Bears out-rebounded the LRC Bears 44 – 35.
The Shaw University Bears will head back to their practice playground as they prepare to battle on the Blue Bears of Livingstone College on Tuesday, December 4, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. The game will take place in Salisbury, NC.
