In his final game as a Golden Bull, senior Earl Jackson produced 13 points and four rebounds, despite the 82-69 CIAA semifinals loss against Shaw
CIAA Semifinals Box vs. Shaw
Charlotte, NC – The Johnson C. Smith University men's basketball team failed to advance to the CIAA Finals after an 82-69 loss against Shaw University on Friday evening inside Time Warner Cable Arena. JCSU concluded the year at 17-11 overall.
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.
Shaw was victorious over the Golden Bulls, (entering the tournament as the No. 4 Southern Division seed), twice during the regular season; winning by scores of 86-77 and 76-70. J.C. Smith 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.”
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.
Sophomore guard and reigning CIAA Player of the Year
Trevin Parks (Hickory, NC), freshman forward
Antwan Wilkerson (Greensboro, NC) and senior forward
Earl Jackson (Temple Hills, MD) all shot a respectable 45 percent or better, but couldn't stop the Bears' offensive attack.
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. Johnson C. Smith only led 15-11 despite the torrid shooting, because Dwight Bell scored eight points to keep the Bears in range.
Raheem Smith scored a layup at the 9:42 mark to cap a 15-0 Bears run. Raheem Smith and Tony Smith combined to score 11 points during the spurt.
The Golden Bulls closed to within six, but Shaw erupted again. They produced another big run (17-8) to go into the locker room at halftime 45-30. Jackson had a team-high seven points, followed by sophomore forward
Calvin Smith (Auburn, AL) with six at the break.
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 second half was more of the same for JCSU, allowing a 25-12 run to extend Shaw's lead to 70-42 around the 10-minute mark. Johnson C. Smith cut the lead to 14 (75-61) with 2:21 remaining after a three pointer from senior guard
Ronald Thornhill (Alberta, VA) and then a layup from Parks. But Shaw maintained their advantage and eventually closed out the ball game.
Parks, Wilkerson, and Jackson each scored 13 points for JCSU.
Three Golden Bulls are seniors and will not be returning:
Ryan Carter,
Earl Jackson, and
Ronald Thornhill. All three were a part of the 2008 and 2009 CIAA Tournament Championship teams.
