WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -  The Shaw University men's basketball team could not find their shooting touch and fell to Winston-Salem State 79-60 in the C.E. Gaines Center Monday night.

The loss drops Shaw to an 8-16 mark overall, 6-8 in the conference and 2-6 in the CIAA's Southern Division.  Winston-Salem State improves to 15-9, 10-4 in the CIAA and 6-2 in the division.

Shaw struggled shooting all evening, hitting only 39.5 percent from the floor and only three of 19 from beyond the three point line (15.8 percent).   The Bears were only one of 12 in the second half from beyond the arc.

In comparison, Winston-Salem State hit half of their 58 shots and 31.8 percent from behind the three-point line. 

The Rams also outrebounded the Bears 37-30.

The Bears jumped to a small lead early, but the Rams flipped the scoreboard with a seven-point run, giving them a 7-3 lead. 

Shaw kept it close, cutting the lead to one with 8:18 left in the first when Andre Paulk hit a three pointer. 

WSSU responded with a nine-point run, building a 28-18 lead with 5:52 left.  After a bucket from Shaw's Aquil Younger, the Rams scored the next 13 of 16 points, building a 41-23 lead on a fastbreak dunk from Marquez Jones.

Shaw would trim the lead by only one by the half, heading into the locker room down 43-26.

The Rams slowly extended their lead in the second, building it to 28 points with 13:23 left in the game.  Shaw hit a bucket, but that merely slowed the Rams' momentum.  With 10:14 left in the half, Preston Ross sank a layup that extended the WSSU lead to 30, at 73-43.

With 1:19 left, the Bears had a string of free throws that began to cut into the lead, but it was too little, too late.  The Bears scored the last ten points of the contest to cut the final margin to 19 at 79-60.

Paulk, who scored 31 on Saturday afternoon, had another stellar outing, scoring 20 for the Bears.  Aquil Younger was the only other Shaw player in double digits with 11 points.   Koron Reed had six rebounds and Younger had three assists to lead the Bears.

Jones led all scorers with 27 points.  Ross had 18 and WyKevin Bazemore 16 in the Rams' win.  Bazemore had 16 rebounds and Tyre Desmore five assists to pace WSSU.

The Bears return to action Wednesday when they host Fayetteville State for Senior Night.  Tip is 8:00 p.m. at Shaw's C.C. Spaulding Gymnasium.  Shaw will then close out their regular season on Saturday when they travel to Johnson C. Smith for a 7:30 p.m. tip.