[St. Petersburg, FL] - Tony Smith scored 20 points and pulled in 12 rebounds to help lead Shaw past Tampa 70-50 at the Eckerd College Thanksgiving Classic. 

With the win, the Bears improve to 3-1 on the season, while the Spartans drop to 1-3.

Smith was one of three Bears who scored in double figures - while two others had nine points.  Junius Chaney had 15 points and Malik Alvin tossed in another 11.  Mohammed Abdur-Rahim and Eddie Dawson had nine points apiece. 

The Bears struggled offensively both early and late in the game.  They did not hit their first bucket until nearly three minutes had passed in the game, and hit their last bucket with 2:51 left in the game.   In between, though, the Bears shot nearly 65 percent.  Even with the early and late game droughts, the Bears hit 59.6 percent from the field.

Tampa came out strong, hitting all of their early field goal attempts and two of three early three-point tries, but they went cold midway through the first half and finished the game with only a 40 percent shooting average.

The Bears trailed early, 8-1, but fought back with six straight points to cut the Spartan lead to one.   With 11:08 left in the first, the Bears finally tied the game at 13, but a quick Spartan three allowed gave Tampa a lead immediately after.

Three minutes later, after exchanging baskets, Mohammed Abdur-Rahim hit a layup to give the Bears their first lead of the game, 19-18.

With the Bears holding a 26-23 lead, Eddie Dawson came into the game and hit three quick threes - his only points of the night - building the Shaw lead to 12, 35-23 with 2:43 left in the first.

In the second, Shaw quickly built the lead to 20, then continued essentially exchanging buckets for much of the half.

Midway through the second, the Spartans began a comeback.  with 8:41 left in the game, the Bears held a 59-41 advantage.  The Spartans scored the next six points, cutting the Shaw lead to 12 and forcing the Bears to take a timeout.

The Bears rolled off five straight points after the timeout, building their lead back to 17 with 5:35 left in the half.  They would extend the lead to 20 points at 70-50 with 2:50 left in the game.  Neither team could find an offensive rhythm the rest of the way out, with no further scoring.

Smith had over one-third of his team's 33 rebounds and the Bears outrebounded the Spartans 33-22.  Smith's 12 rebounds and 20 points led Shaw, while Malik Alvin had nine assists to lead both teams.

No Tampa player scored in double digits, but Stefon Barfield and Osby Kelly had nine apiece and 11 players scored.  Ashton Graham led the Spartans in rebounding with four and Jon Riles led Tampa in assists with three.

The Bears return to action tomorrow night, November 26, when they take on host Eckerd at the Eckerd Thanksgiving Classic.  Tip for the contest is 7:30 p.m.

Photos:  Tony Smith had a double-double to lead the Bears, while Junius Chaney added 15 points of his own.