(RALEIGH, NC)-  Tony Smith fell two rebounds short of a triple-double as he led the Shaw offense to their second highest point total of the season on the way to a Bear victory over Johnson C. Smith, 86-77.

After focusing on defense much of the season, Shaw (13-7, 6-5 CIAA) had a second straight game of over 85 points – less than a week after putting up 89 on Fayetteville State.   The Bears shot 58.6 percent on the night – 63 percent in the first half alone – on the way to the win.

Johnson C. Smith (12-7, 8-3 CIAA) hit 45.3 percent from the field, but could manage only 50 percent from the free throw line – missing ten of the 20 they attempted.

Shaw came out of the gate hot and built a large lead early.  With 13:13 left in the first, Dwight Bell sank a three pointer and was fouled.  He hit the free throw for the four-point play and a 19-10 Shaw lead. 

With the score Shaw 21, JCSU 12, the Golden Bulls went on a 10-1 scoring run that cut the Shaw lead to one, with 8:02 left in the first, but the Bears went on their own scoring spree, outscoring JCSU 16-4 to build a 13-point, 39-26 lead with 4:09 left in the half. 

With 1:24 left in the first, Raheem Smith hit a jumper to again give the Bears a 13-point lead, but the Golden Bulls got five points from Ronald Thornhill and another three from Antwan Wilkerson to close out the half on an 8-0 run, cutting the Shaw lead to 43-38 at the half.

Thornhill opened the second half with a three, then Trevin Parks added a bucket to tie the game at 43.  After an exchange of buckets, Parks hit a three to give the Golden Bulls a 48-45 lead with 15:10 left in the game.

Shaw found their inside game in the second, scoring 22 in the paint, including Jaime Boyer's layup with 10:03 left that gave the Bears a 61-54 lead.  Parks again led the Golden Bulls on a charge as they took a lead with 7:27 left on a Delonta Boyd three.

The see-saw of the second half then tipped Shaw's way as Tony Smith hit a jumper to spark a 7-2 Shaw run to rebuild the lead to six with 4:50 left in the half. 

JCSU then cut the lead to four with 1:23 left in the game when Boyd hit a free three for the Golden Bulls, but in the last 41 seconds, David Jones had two dunks and the Bears went five for six from the free throw line to capture the 86-77 win.

Tony Smith had 19 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds to lead the Bears in all three categories.  Three other Bears – Raheem Smith with 18, Bell with 15 and Jones with 14 – had double figures on the night.

Parks had 26 points for the Golden Bulls, along with 17 from Boyd and 11 from Thornhills.  Boyd led JCSU with nine rebounds and Parks had four assists.

The Bears return to action Monday, February 7, when they host Livingstone College and try to avenge a three-point loss suffered at the hands of the Blue Bears a week ago.  Tip is at 8:00 p.m. at Spaulding Gymnasium on the campus of Shaw University.

Photos:  Tony Smith (left) goes up for a layup in the second half against JCSU.  David Jones (right) hits a layup in the first on his way to 14 points.