Boca Raton, FL – The Shaw men’s basketball team found itself down by 30 points in the second half and made a valiant effort to come back but fell short to host Lynn 85-75 in the Pepsi Double Tree Tip-off Classic.

Lynn (2-0) jumped out to an early 7-0 lead on a dunk by Chris Temple with 17 minutes, 34 seconds remaining in the first half.  Lynn would then extend its lead to 25-9 on two made free throws by James Taylor with 7:05 left in the first.  The Fighting Knights held its biggest lead of the half, taking a 46-28 halftime lead.  Lynn shot 55.6 percent in the half, holding Shaw to 31.3 shooting.  Shaw junior guard Daniel Jackson was in early foul trouble picking up three in the half.

In the second half, Lynn continued to run and took its biggest lead of the game 60-30 with 14:20 remaining. But Shaw (0-2) would chip away at the lead going on a 15-4 run and cutting its deficit to 64-45 on a jumper by James Rosebud with 9:44 remaining.  Shaw forced the Fighting Knights into turnovers and continued to shoot well and cut its deficit to 70-60 on two Nate Arron free throws with 5:10 remaining.  But a subsequent three-pointer by James Cage all but sealed it putting Lynn up 73-60 with 4:19 remaining.  The closest the Bears would come would be 78-69 on an Arron free throw with 51 seconds remaining.

Shaw shot 53.8 percent from the field in the second half, while holding Lynn to 40.7 percent shooting and forced the Fighting Knights into nine second half turnovers.  The Bears outrebounded the Fighting Knights 45 to 31. 

Arron led the Bears with 18 points, while Jackson had 15.  Stephen Yamoah sparked the Bears with 12 points and nine rebounds and Rosebud had 10 points.

Taylor led six Lynn double figure scorers with 15 points.  Shaw next game will be at Tampa on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.