Shaw falls to claflin
Bears “Turn Over” First Home Court Contest of New Year

January 2, 2002 – Raleigh, NC – The Shaw University Bears laced up their black Nike ® high tops as they hosted the Panthers of Claflin University. The Bears’ held high hopes of harnessing a home court victory to kickoff the New Year. Regrettably, the thought of triumph seemed to be nothing more than a distant dream as Claflin converted 31 points off the Bears’ 24 turnovers to stun Shaw, 81 – 58.

At the beginning of the first half, Claflin cruised on a 6 – 0 scoring run. Head Coach Robert Brickey quickly called for a thirty second timeout. Shortly thereafter, the Bears finally tallied points to the scoreboard when #1 Will “Takeover” Graham (Guard / 5 – 10 / Junior / Minneapolis, MN) drenched the nets with a deep three-pointer. Shaw stampeded back to tie the game at 8 – 8 after #20 Robert “And One” Espinosa (Forward / 6 – 7 / Senior / Plainfield, NJ) caught a dandy dish from #21 Brandon Greene (Forward / 6 – 6 / Senior / Slidell, LA) to get the bucket, the foul, and drain the free throw. Shaw patted the pedal of their offensive automobile to take their first lead, 10 – 8, with a steal and dish by #11 John “Downtown” Douros (Guard / 6 – 2 / Junior / Raleigh, NC) to #42 Dominik Allen (Forward / 6 – 6 / Junior / Detroit, MI) for the gym rattling jam. Two-sport talent Allen gifted the Bears with a four point lead when he returned on the next possession to be credited with an offensive rebound and a “right touch” tip-in. Unfortunately, the Panthers paralyzed the Shaw defense with an 18 – 2 scoring spurt. With a little less than three minutes left, Claflin led by as many as 17 points. Shaw’s “Money Gram” Graham slimmed down the Bears’ point deficit as he went six for six from the charity stripe in the closing seconds. Claflin possessed a 37 – 23 lead at halftime.

The second half of play started with the Panthers pouring on their offensive production to strike up a 10 – 0 scoring run, 47 – 23. Claflin would “laffy taffy” their offense to motor in the forefront of the Bears by as many as 27 points (61 -34) with 11 minutes remaining. Shaw did not at all lose sight of their initial focus as they backed down the Panthers with a 14 – 2 scoring spurt. Nevertheless, the point deficit was a bit too advanced and there was not enough time existing in regulation for the Bears to complete their comeback efforts.

Leading in scoring for the Bears was #1 Will Graham with 22 points (three rebounds / one assist / four steals). Providing additional scoring was #20 Robert Espinosa with 10 points (five rebounds / one block / two steals) and #21 Brandon Greene with nine points (a team high eight rebounds / one assist / two blocks).

The Shaw University Bears will have seventy-two hours for reconfigure and recuperate before they hit the highway for their road game against Chowan University in Murfreesboro, NC. The game is scheduled to take place on Saturday, January 5, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.