Fayetteville State (18-10) received a game-high 21 points from Donell Williams, the lone Bronco in double figures, on 8-of-16 shooting from the field and 5-of-6 from the foul line.

Shaw (12-16) was paced by Ricky Williams with a team-best 18 points, along with Anthony Greenup with 11 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots.

“When you can’t put the ball in the hole, you certainly can’t win basketball games,” head coach Michael Bernard said about his team’s 20-of-64 shooting from the field and 13-of-26 efforts from the foul line. “We had difficulty getting into our offense and they did a great job of doubling-down on [Anthony]. They out-hustled us and they are very deserving of moving on.”

The Bears jumped out to a 16-5 advantage when Ricky Williams dropped a three-pointer with 12 minutes 23 seconds left in the first half. The Broncos responded with a 12-1 run to tie the game at 17-17 with a pair of free throws by Donell Williams at the 9:02 mark.

Shaw’s Tomas Grinkevicius and the Broncos’ Kenny Haywood exchanged free throws before a lay-up by Donell Williams gave the Broncos their first lead at 21-19 with 8:23 to play before intermission.

Fayetteville State closed the half with a 7-1 spurt to go ahead 38-29 at the break.

Shaw cut the deficit to two points twice in the second half before a 15-4 run by the Broncos put the game out of reach at 57-44 with 8:24 to go.

“I thought the kids played with a lot of character,” said FSU head coach Sam Hanger. “We got down early, but our second group came in and really picked us up and got some life going.”