Jan. 31, 2011
Final Stats
FAYETTEVILLE, NC - John Herrington was all over Devon McLendon.
At the top of the key, McLendon tried to shake right. No dice. He tried a head fake. Herrington didn't bite. Finally, McLendon rose, faded back a bit, and with Herrington right there in his face, still managed to find the bottom of the net.
It was that kind of night for the Shaw Bears.
McLendon had 18 points to go with six rebounds, four assists and four steals while Darryl Johnson added 20 points and 12 rebounds as the Bears shot 55.8 percent from the field to down the Fayetteville State Broncos 89-78 on Monday night in Felton J. Capel Arena.
The Bears (12-7, 5-5, 1-2) led by as many as 18 points midway through the second half and were still shooting better than 62 percent from the field until the 7-minute mark of the second half. Shaw made 6 of 12 from 3-point range, getting three of them from McLendon.
Still, the Broncos were never truly out of the game. Ariel Robinson (Sr., Coral Springs, FL) and Jarrick Jones (Jr., Ridgeway, SC) made back-to-back 3s to trim the deficit to 12, 70-58, with 7:33 remaining. Robinson later hit another jumper 2 minutes later to bring FSU within 11.
But every time Fayetteville State (9-9, 5-5, 1-2) began to make a charge, Shaw had an answer. McLendon's jumper may have been the final dagger, giving the Bears a 78-65 lead with 4:03 to go. Though the Broncos managed to cut the lead to nine twice with 2 minutes left and down to eight once with 1:34 to go, Shaw did enough from the foul line to preserve the victory.
Tim Plummer (Jr., Apex, NC) led the Broncos with 15 points to go with six rebounds while Herrington (Jr., Jacksonville, FL) added 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Sidney Evans had 12 points and Robinson chipped in 11.
Raheem Smith, the CIAA's second-leading scorer, finished with 18 points for the Bears, who won their first Southern Division game this season. Dwight Bell had 17 points and Tony Smith had 12 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
Shaw got off to an even hotter start, opening the game with a 26-10 run through the first 10 minutes.
Fayetteville State returns to action on Saturday, traveling to St. Augustine's for a 4 p.m. tip.
