Raleigh, NC – A tough outside shooting night led to a steep hill that the Shaw Bears couldn't get over as they fell to Fayetteville State University 61-44 Wednesday night in a CIAA matchup inside Spaulding Gymnasium.

The contest began tight with Shaw (4-4, 0-2 CIAA) trailing by just one at the 14:41 media timeout. Michael Armstrong tied the game at 9 with a tough basket inside. A quick spurt from FSU (6-5, 1-0 CIAA) made the score 13-9 with 11:32 remaining in the first half. Justus Baldwin cashed in on a corner three making the score 15-12 in favor of the Broncos at the next media timeout.

The Broncos lead grew to 20-12 with 6:45 remaining in the half.  Nakwan Kitchens scored with a dunk inside before FSU hit a corner three making the score 23-16 at the final media break of the half. Back-to-back threes for FSU made the score 29-16 forcing a Shaw timeout with 2:39 on the clock. Baskets from both teams made the score 32-19 at the break.

The Bears opened the second half on a slight scoring drought being outscored 6-2 in the opening five minutes of the half. A quick 4-0 spurt with baskets from Baldwin and Josue Kamba forced an FSU timeout with 13:24 remaining and Shaw trailing 40-25. A Shaw run cut their deficit to 13 before back-to-back threes from FSU made the score 53-33 with just under seven minutes left in the game.  The Bears were unable to trim the deficit any smaller before falling 61-44.

Shaw will have a quick turnaround and return to action on Saturday, December 18 as they travel to  Division 1 Elon for an exhibition contest slated for 1 p.m.