(Fayetteville, NC) - The Shaw men's basketball team ran built a 16-point lead early, and then held off a persistent Fayetteville State squad 89-78 in a game played at Capel Arena on the campus of Fayetteville State.

Shaw (12-7, 5-5 CIAA) held a double-digit lead for much of the game, but Fayetteville State (9-8, 5-5 CIAA) fought back late in the second, cutting the lead to as few as seven before resorting to fouls, which allowed Shaw to rebuild a portion of their lead.  The Bears had four players who scored more than 15 points, and a fifth who hit double digits. 

Shaw built a lead early, but Fayetteville State cut it to two, 12-10, with 13:56 left in the first.  The Bears then reeled off 16 unanswered points, punctuated by Darryl Johnson's two free throws that set the score at 26-10 with 10:42 left in the half.

Fayetteville State battled back, cutting the lead to ten with Tim Plummer's layup with 8:14 left in the half, but they never seriously contended, only cutting the lead below double digits twice, the last with 1:44 left when Dominique Johnson hit a trey to cut the Shaw lead to 39-31. 

Dwight Bell hit a layup, was fouled, and then hit the resulting free throw to put the Shaw lead back to 11, and an exchange of a single FSU free throw for a Johnson tip in put the halftime score at 44-32.

FSU scored the first two buckets in the second,  cutting the Shaw lead to eight, and cut it to seven with 17:07 left in the game.  Fueled by four points from Bell, the Bears put up eight unanswered points, stretching the lead to 15 and all but daring the Broncos to cut it under ten again. 

The Bears stretched their lead to 18 with 9:44 left in the game when Tony Smith drove to the basket and hit the layup to set the score at 69-51. 

With 6:19 left, Devon Mclendon tipped in a missed shot from Bell to give Shaw a 16-point, 74-56, lead.  Jarrick Jones hit a three to start a 11-4 scoring run for the Broncos  that got the deficit under double digits for the first time since the start of the half.  With 3:22 left in the game, Shaw led by 78-69.

While FSU kept the Shaw lead around ten, they could never make the big run.  With 51 seconds left, an Adre Best free throw cut the Shaw lead to nine, 76-85.  Jones hit another layup for FSU with 28 seconds left to cut the lead to seven, but Shaw closed out the game with four free throws to set the final score at 89-78.

Johnson had a double-double for the Bears with 20 points and 12 rebounds.  Mclendon and Raheem Smith each had 18, Bell had 17 and Tony Smith had 12 for the Bears.  Tony Smith led Shaw with seven assists.

Plummer had 15 to lead the Broncos.  Herrington had 13, Sidney Evans 12, and Ariel Robinson 11 for FSU.  Herrington led Fayetteville with seven rebounds and Andre Best had five assists.

Shaw returns home Saturday, February 5 when they will host Johnson C. Smith at 8:00 p.m.

Photos:  Darryl Johnson (left) hits a shot during the first half.  He had a double-double.  Devon Mclendon (right) had 18 points in the Shaw win.