(RALEIGH, NC)- In what Shaw Head Coach Cleo Hill, Jr., called a "must win game," the Bears finally broke free of Chowan's full court press and built a solid second half lead to down the Hawks 82-70.

Shaw (10-4, 3-2 CIAA) needed a 13-0 run late in the first half to overcome an early Chowan (1-11, 0-4 CIAA) seven-point lead.  While the Bears gave up 36 points in the paint, they did hold the CIAA's best three-point shooting team (37.3 percent coming into the game) to only 18.8 percent.

"Our guys played semi-okay," said Hill.  "Chowan's new coach gets them to play extremely hard.  They press 75 percent of the game and we struggled with it at first, but prevailed at the end.  It was a scrappy win for our team."

Hill credited one player in particular for taking the team to the win, "I think we have the player of the year on our team, Raheem Smith, and when he got going and established himself, he became the decisive factor in the game."

Struggling with the press early in the game, Shaw fell behind Chowan 31-24 with 9:01 left in the half.  That was when Smith established himself.  Over the next six minutes, Smith scored nine points – part of 13 unanswered points for the Bears – that turned the seven-point deficit into a six-point lead.   The Bears would take a 39-34 advantage into the locker room at the half.

For the first half of the closing period, Chowan kept the game close.  With 8:02 on the clock, Chowan's Jerry Fairley hit a layup to cut the Shaw lead to 58-52.   The Bears, led by Smith and Jaime Boyer, reeled off a 14-2 scoring run, to build an 18-point 72-54 lead with 4:15 to play. 

Chowan then ran off a nine-point scoring streak of their own, but they could not pull closer than eight, finally falling 82-70.

Smith led the Bears with 29 points.  No other Bear managed double figures in scoring.  Darryl Johnson led Shaw with eight rebounds and Tony Smith had six assists.

Quinton McDuffie led the Hawks with 23 points, and Fairley had ten.  McDuffie also paced Chowan with eight rebounds, while Travis Williams had four assists.

The Bears take to the court again on Monday when they host Elizabeth City State for an 8:00 p.m. tip. The game will be held at C. C. Spaulding Gymnasium on the campus of Shaw University.

Photos:  Raheem Smith goes up for a layup (left) in the first half of the Shaw victory.  Greg Thomas (right) throws down a dunk against Chowan.