SHAW SHOOTS SEASON-HIGH 62 PERCENT IN CIAA SEMIFINAL WIN

SHAW SHOOTS SEASON-HIGH 62 PERCENT IN CIAA SEMIFINAL WIN

March 4, 2011

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Devon McLendon led an offensive assault with 23 points over Johnson C. Smith in Shaw's 82-69 semifinal victory Friday in the CIAA Tournament at Time Warner Cable Arena.

The Bears (21-8 overall), the No. 2 seed out of the Southern Division, will attempt to win its second CIAA crown in school history Saturday at 8 p.m. against the other semifinal winner between Livingstone and Fayetteville State. The Bears advanced by doing what it always does against the Golden Bulls – score points.

The Bears had already knocked off the Golden Bulls (17-11), the No. 4 Southern Division seed, twice during the regular season, winning by scores of 86-77 and 76-70. The 86 points on Feb. 5 tied for the third most this season, and the 82 points Thursday was the seventh most by the Bears this season. On the flip side, the Golden Bulls failed to score 70 or more points against the Bears for the first time in the last three meetings.

“This was a great game for the Bears,” Shaw Head Coach Cleo Hill, Jr. said. “We wanted to come out defensively and set a tone early. Once we did that, we felt that getting out in transition would be a big key. They played a very inspired game last night against Bowie State and it was very late. We thought that they expended a lot of energy so we wanted to pressure defensively and get out in transition as much as we could. We did that for stretches.”

McLendon sparked the Bears' charge on 10-for-19 shooting and eight rebounds. The 23 points is one off McLendon's season-high.

Raheem Smith, who was perfect from the floor and free-throw line Thursday, added 21 points on 9-for-16 shooting and Dwight Bell had 14 points on 6-for-7 shooting. Both Darryl Johnson and Tony Smith each added 10 points on a combined 9-for-13 shooting. As a team, the Bears were red-hot, shooting a season-high 62 percent. The starters scored all but four of the Bears' points.

The Bears scored 27 of their 36 field  goals on layups or close shots. Twenty-one of their points were the result of 14 JCSU turnovers which led to a 60-28 advantage in paint points.

The Golden Bulls, led by 13 points each from CIAA player of the year Trevin Parks, Antwan Wilkerson and Earl Jackson, shot a respectable 45 percent but couldn't stop the Bears' offensive onslaught.

The Golden Bulls appeared to be the team that would go on an offensive barrage. They picked right where they left off in a quarterfinal victory over Bowie State, hitting their first seven shots against the Broncos. The Golden Bulls only led 15-11 despite the torrid shooting because Bell scored eight points to keep the Bears in range.
 
Once the Golden Bulls cooled off, the Bears poured it on. Raheem Smith scored a layup at the 9:42 mark to cap a 15-0 Bears run, and all of a sudden the Bears were ahead 26-15. Raheem Smith and Tony Smith combined to score 11 points during the spurt.

The Golden Bulls closed to within six, but the Bears erupted again. They went on another big run, this time outscoring the Golden Bulls 17-8 to go in the locker room at halftime 45-30. Raheem Smith had 12 points and McLendon added 11 points while Bell scored eight points for the Bears, who shot 62 percent in the first half.

The efficiency of the Bears' offense was reflected in their assist-to-turnover ratio at halftime. The Bears had 10 assists to four turnovers compared to five assists and seven turnovers for the Golden Bulls.

The Golden Bulls didn't shoot bad (46 percent) but they could not stop the Bears' onslaught. Jackson led JCSU with seven points and Calvin Smith added six points for the Golden Bulls, who were outrebounded 19-11.

The second half was more of the same for the Bears, who went on another long run, this time 25-12 to extended their lead to 70-42 around the 10-minute mark. By the 12-minute mark, each Bears' starter had scored.