Shaw Runs Away from Elizabeth City State, Earns 71-48 Victory

Shaw Runs Away from Elizabeth City State, Earns 71-48 Victory

Tony Smith and Raheem Smith combine for 40 points for Shaw

March 3, 2011

CHARLOTTE, NC – For the second consecutive game, the Elizabeth City State University Vikings suffered a poor shooting first half.  They would not recover this time.

The Vikings (18-10) missed 13 of their first 15 shots and connected on only 6 field goals in the first half en route to a 71-48 defeat to Shaw University in the quarterfinals of the CIAA Tournament Thursday afternoon.  Shaw shot 52% from the floor in the first half, including 12 points from Tony Smith (Jr., Greenville, NC).

Elizabeth City State, the #3 seed out of the North, never got into an offensive groove, thanks in part to the length of Shaw’s defense.  The Vikings were forced into taking nine three-pointers and were outrebounded 24-15 in the half.  They shot only one free throw in the stanza, while Shaw (20-8) went to the line 10 times.

“I thought threw the entire 40 minutes, the emphasis was on defense,” Shaw Head Coach Cleo Hill, Jr. remarked.  “The defensive effort and the rebounding effort was the key to the game.” The Bears, who never trailed in the game, also had the advantage in the paint, outscoring ECSU 14-10 in the half.

Shaw, coming in as the #2 seed from the South, opened the game on a 7-0 run, capped by a Tony Smith slam dunk.  Deon Rice (Jr., Detroit, MI) finally put Elizabeth City State on the board 4:19 into the contest with a jumper.

Despite the Vikings shooting woes, they trailed by only eight with 9:37 remaining in the half.  All-CIAA selection Rondy Tucker (Jr., Plainfield, NJ) kept ECSU in the game by scoring six of his team’s first eight points.

The Vikings could not remain within striking distance, however, as a Tony Smith trey gave Shaw a 28-11 advantage with 4:20 to play in the half.  Elizabeth City State’s poor shooting continued as the half closed, going scoreless in the final 2:44.

For the Vikings, the second half did not start like the first.  A Trent Bivens (Sr., Durham, NC) three pointer 3:40 into the half gave ECSU their ninth point in the stanza.  By comparison, they did not score their ninth point in the first half until the 6:33 mark.

Unfortunately for Elizabeth City State, the Bears continued their hot shooting as well.  Shaw connected on five of their first nine field goal attempts of the second half and did not allow the Vikings to decrease the deficit to less than 20 points.

Tony Smith led the Bears with 21 points, while playing 37 minutes.  He led the CIAA this season in minutes played per game (36.3).  “After yesterday, I just wanted to be aggressive,” said Smith.  He scored just 10 points on 3-8 shooting against Lincoln University (PA) in the opening round.

Raheem Smith (Sr., Greenville, NC) was not far behind, tallying 19 points on 9-16 shooting.  Devon Mclendon (Jr., Sharon Hill, PA) pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds for Shaw.

Shaw shot a blistering 59.6% from the floor for the game, which included 34 points in the paint.  Neither team shot well from the free throw line.  Elizabeth City State hit 6 of 12, while the Bears connected on 10-19.

Trent Bivens went 5-12 from the field for the Vikings, scoring a team-high 12 points and grabbing 6 rebounds.

Shaw avenged an earlier season loss to Elizabeth City State.  The Vikings escaped Spalding Gymnasium with a 48-46 win on January 17th, behind 12 points from Rondy Tucker.  Shaw’s leading scorer, and All-CIAA selection, Raheem Smith did not play in that game due to an ankle injury.  Marquie Cooke (Jr., Suffolk, VA) gave the Vikings the narrow victory with two free throws with 2.8 left in the game.

Shaw moves on to the CIAA semifinals, where they will clash with the winner of the quarterfinal matchup between Bowie State University (#1 North) and Johnson C. Smith University (#4 South).  Tip-off will be at 9:00pm on Friday at the Time Warner Cable Arena.