Shaw SNEAKS PAST ST. ANDREWS  
Bears’ Smoking 63% Field Goal Shooting Leads To Come From Behind Victory

December 13, 2007 – Laurinburg, NC – The Shaw University Bears took a two hour trip south to take on the Knights of St. Andrews Presbyterian College. The Bears tally their third triumph and hand-deliver the Knights their eighth straight loss of the season with a 68 – 65 victory.

It was the Knights that seized possession of the tip-off. However, the Bears were first to tally points to the scoreboard as #21 Brandon Greene (Forward / 6 – 6 / Senior / Slidell, LA) successfully released from behind the arc to drain a three-pointer. St. Andrews answered with four consecutive scores to take an 8 – 3 lead. Head Coach Robert Brickey motioned from his seat and optioned to take his first full timeout. Shaw stepped back into the fold to minimize their opponent’s point margin to three (11 – 8 St. Andrews) after #11 John Douros (Guard / 6 – 2 / Junior / Raleigh, NC) bucketed a long range two-pointer and then credited #1 Will Graham (Guard / 5 – 10 / Junior / Minneapolis, MN) with an assist after raining in a fast break three-pointer. Moments later, the “Hometown Kid” Douros reappeared to connect for his second three-pointer and bring the Bears within three again, 19 – 16 St. Andrews. Then, Shaw’s #34 John Kornegay (Guard / 5 – 10 / Senior / Detroit, MI) lunged to the lane with lay-up to dice their deficit to just one, 19 – 18 St. Andrews, with a little less than 11 minutes remaining in the first half.  The Knights jumped back out in front to lead by seven until Graham split the St. Andrews defense to hit two buckets and #20 Robert Espinosa (Forward / 6 – 7 / Senior / Plainfield, NJ) nailed a Nike ® “all-swoosh” three-pointer, 28 – 27 St. Andrews. The Knights’ #15 Josh Gripper  took the game into his hands as he sunk two consecutive shots to give the Knights a 32 – 27 point margin advantage with 1:18 left. The Bears tracked back within three, 32 – 29 St. Andrews, after Douros drew the foul after attempting a three-pointer. Douros dived into double digits by converting on all three free-throw attempts. Nevertheless, the Knights cadenced into halftime with a 33 – 30 lead.

In the second half, the Bears battled back to take the lead, 38 – 37, at 15:15 with a tough tossed-in two-pointer by #30 Damola Obadina (Forward / 6 – 5 / Senor / Minneapolis, MN). Shaw led by three, 44 – 41, when Greene stepped in front of a St. Andrews’ pass and then collected frequent flyer miles after he skied for an ESPN Top Ten dunk! With seven minutes remaining, Shaw convinced St. Andrews to take a full timeout as the Bears snapped the game’s fifteenth tie when Graham drove and dished to Obadina for the reverse lay-up. Shaw lengthened their lead 61 – 52 via a corner three-pointer by Kornegay and forced St. Andrews to take a thirty second timeout. St. Andrews resurfaced to take the lead 63 – 61, but the Bears’ Graham responded with two scores to tie the game at 63 – 63 and 65 – 65. Seconds later, Graham returned to the lane for two more points and position Shaw in the forefront 67 – 65. After the basket, Head Coach Robert Brickey called for a critical timeout as Shaw possessed the lead with nine seconds left in the game. As the timeout buzzer sounded to signal the players to return to the court, it was none other than “Mr. Graham” that would seal the deal for the Bears after he tackled a loose ball and made one of two free-throws in the closing seconds.

The Bears had four players to score in double digits. Shaw’s leading scorer was #1 Will Graham with 19 points (two rebounds / four assists / four steals). Providing additional scoring was #34 John Kornegay with 12 points (three rebounds), #30 Damola Obadina with 12 points (six rebounds / one assist), and #11 John Douros with 11 points (one rebound). Shaw had a two-way tie for top rebounder as #00 Cori Gaither (Forward / 6 – 5 / Senior / Jacksonville, FL) and #21 Brandon Greene had seven rebounds each.

The Shaw University Bears’ next competition will be against Wingate University on Wednesday, December 19, 2007. The competition will take place in C.C. Spaulding Gymnasium at 7:00 p.m.