WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The Shaw University Bears couldn't hold on to a late two-point lead as they dropped back-to-back CIAA Southern Division contests for the first time in two years, falling 69-66 to Winston-Salem State in a game played on Wednesday night at the C.E. Gaines Center.
The Bears fall to 12-6 overall and 6-2 in the CIAA. They are currently in a 0-2 hole in the Southern Division. The last time Shaw lost back-to-back contests was January 22 and 29 of 2011. The Bears lost to St. Augustine's (68-64) and Livingstone (61-58). Winston-Salem State improves to 14-3 overall and 7-1 in the CIAA.
"Winston-Salem State did a good job," said Shaw head coach Cleo Hill, Jr. "They are the CIAA Champions for a reason. Coach (Bobby) Collins does a great job coaching and getting his team prepared. I thought they had a great defensive scheme. And here we are at 0-2 in the division."
The Bears held a late 61-59 lead thanks to a layup from Curtis Hines with 2:24 remaining in the contest. The Rams closed out the game on a 10-5 run to take the three-point victory.
The turning point of the game came with 25 seconds remaining in the game when WSSU's Marcus Wells stole Shaw's inbounds pass and drove the length of the floor for the layup. The steal and the bucket put the Rams up 66-61.
"In the last two minutes of a nip-and-tuck game, we have to come out and execute and we just didn't," said Hill. "We were down three when we had that crucial play on the sidelines. I didn't organize the out of bounds play correctly and we were kind out of alignment and they capitalized with a steal and a layup to go up five."
The Bears shot 22-of-50 from the floor, for a 44 percent rate in the contest. The Rams, shot 25-of-54 from the floor for 46.3 percent.
Hines finished with a game-high 20 points to lead the way for the Bears. Latrail McCoy added 14 points while Andre Paulk contributed 10 in the loss.
It took a while for the Bears to get going early on in the game as the Rams took a 16-2 lead with 14:57 remaining in the first half.
With their first four points coming from the free throw line, Shaw's wasn't able to hit a basket until the 12-minute mark of the period when Hines buried his first of three three-pointers to bring the Bears within 10 at 17-7.
Hines' shot was the start of a 12-1 run by the Bears, who pulled within three on a layup from Andre Paulk, to make it 17-14 with 10:30 remaining in the first half.
The Rams responded with an 11-0 run to go back up by 14. The run was capped off by a layup from Justin Glover, which put Winston-Salem State up 28-14 with 7:13 remaining in the period.
Another crucial three-pointer from Hines sparked another late run for the Bears. Hines brought the Bears within 11 at 28-17 with 5:38 remaining. The Bears closed out the half on a 14-5 run to trail by two, 33-31, at halftime.
The second half was back-and-forth the whole way as neither team was able to build more than a six-point lead.
A three-pointer from Taurus Dortch gave the Bears their first lead of the contest at 38-37 with 17:54 left. On the other end, Hines stole the ball away from WSSU's Michel-Ofik Nzege and drove the length of the floor to give the Bears a three-point lead at 40-37.
Derrick Hunter's layup at the 14:46 mark put the Bears up by six at 45-39, which was their largest lead of the evening. After two free throws from Winston-Salem State's Wykevin Bazemore brought the Rams within four, the Bears matched their largest lead when Hines put them up 47-41 with 13:54 remaining.
The Rams took the lead back after answering with a 7-0 run. Bazemore dunked the ball to pull the Rams within four. A three-pointer by Wakefield Ellison cut Shaw's deficit to just one at 47-46. The run was capped off with a layup from Wells, which put the Rams back in front 48-47 with 11:55 left.
Joseph Thompson's layup gave the Rams a 55-51 lead with 7:46 remaining. The Bears responded with an 8-2 run over the next five minutes to take a 59-57 advantage thanks to two free throws by Paulk with 2:51 remaining.
With the game knotted at 59, Hines received a pass from McCoy underneath the basket for the layup that gave the Bears a two-point edge, 61-59, with 2:24 remaining.
On the other end, Bazemore was fouled and missed both free throws. On the second miss, he grabbed his own rebound and scored on the putback while being fouled on the play. This time, he sank the free throw to give the Rams the lead for good at 62-61 with 1:21 left.
After a pair of Wakefield Ellison free throws, the Rams built a 64-61 lead, forcing Hill to call a timeout with 34 ticks on the clock. Following the timeout, Wells stole the ball away on the inbounds pass and put the Rams up by five with a layup.
With 15 seconds left, McCoy sank three free throws to bring Shaw within two at 66-64. One second later, Glover put the Rams back up by four at 68-64 with a pair of free throws.
With nine ticks remaining, Dortch converted on a layup to cut the deficit to two. Ellison was able put the game away by going 1-of-2 at the free throw line with five seconds left. On the ensuing possession, the Bears turned the ball over as the Rams celebrated the victory.
Winston-Salem State was led by Bazemore with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Glover finished with 17 points while Nzege finished with 11.
Shaw will be back in action on Saturday afternoon and will be looking to pick up its first Southern Division victory. The Bears will host cross-town rival Saint Augustine's at 4 p.m. Saturday at C.C. Spaulding Gymnasium.
article by Ryan Sarda
