FINAL STATISTICS
shaw stunned in EXtended Play
Bears Losing Streak Stretched
to Six
February 14, 2008 – Fayetteville, NC – The Shaw University Bears took a trip to Felton J. Capel Arean to play the Broncos of Fayetteville State University. The Bears “rodeoed” the Broncos for a majority of the match-up, but Shaw was robbed of their 13 point lead in overtime to be defeated, 73 – 67. The Bears record now stands at 4 – 20 Overall, 1 – 15 CIAA, and 1 – 6 Division.
At the start of the first half, the Bears jumped to a 5 – 2 lead after a three-pointer by #11 John “Downtown” Douros (Guard / 6 – 2 / 180 / Junior / Raleigh, NC) and a put-back by #3 Jonathan Mudd (Guar d / 6 – 1 / 170 / Sophomore / Miami, FL). The Broncos galloped ahead to lead by two, but the Bears birthed the game’s first tie at 7 – 7 with an offensive rebound and putback by #20 Robert “The Elevator” Espinosa (Forward / 6 – 7 / 195 / Senior / Plainfield, NJ). Espinosa’s post production initiated Shaw’s 11 – 1 scoring run which gave them a 16 – 8 lead with just under 10 minutes remaining in the first half. The Bears maintained their lead as they made 11 of their 24 (45.8%) attempted shots; which included raining in three of six (50%) attempted three-pointers. In addition, Shaw scored 10 points off of the 12 turnovers they forced FSU to commit. The Broncos’ senior guard #14 Jamel Austin made two jumpers but Bears’ #30 Damola “Mr. Post Man” Obadina (Forward / 6 – 5 / 240 / Senior / Minneapolis, MN) in the closing seconds gifted Shaw with an eleven point margin advantage at half-time, 30 – 19.
The Bears bolted into the second half of play to snatch their largest lead of a 13 points, 40 – 27, with 12:16 left in the game. Regrettably, FSU stormed back with a 17 – 4 scoring spurt near the eight minute mark to lock up the game at 44 – 44. However, the Bears responded with back to back three-pointers by Douros to take a 50 – 46 lead. Yet the Broncos bumped up to their first lead of the half, 51 – 50, with a hand-in-face flush from behind the arc by junior guard #5 Andy Gebru. The Bears bucketed two baskets and convinced FSU to take a full timeout at 2:05 as Shaw led 54 – 53. With second seconds on the game clock, junior forward #22 Malcolm Jay made one of two attempted free throws to tie the game at 54 – 54. After retrieving the defense rebound, the Bears were able to release a potential game winning shot but it banked off the backboard and off the rim.
In overtime, the Broncos took a quick 62 – 56 lead with two made free throws by Austin and six straight made free throws by Harris. The Bears kept the Broncos within reach but as ticked quickly faded away, FSU secured the overtime triumph with more conversions from the charity stripe.
Leading the Bears in scoring for the Bears was led in scoring by #34 John Kornegay with 17 points (one rebound / three assists). Providing additional scoring was #1 Will Graham (Guard / 5 – 10 / 175 / Minneapolis, MN) with 13 points (three rebounds / one assist / four steals), and #30 Damola Obadina with 10 points (a team high eight rebounds / one assist / two steals).
The Shaw University Bears will battle the Golden Bulls of Johnson C. Smith University on Saturday, February 16th. The CIAA Western Division war is scheduled to take place at Broughton High School’s Holliday Gymnasium at 3:00 p.m.
