Box Score Charlotte, N.C. (Jan. 31, 2015) – The Johnson C. Smith men's basketball team returned a stellar shooting performance and built a sizeable lead to cruise past visiting Shaw University 83-67 in a key CIAA contest on Saturday night in Brayboy Gym.
Neither team could establish a sizeable lead early as0 there were five lead changes in the first seven minutes of the game. JCSU would then take control with a 10-0 lead capped by a
Diondre Pratt (Morven, N.C.) free throw at the 9:11 mark to make it 26-16 JCSU. In that stretch, Pratt had back-to-back dunks, the first on a breakaway and the second on a baseline drive from a pass from Lemon that brought the Brayboy Gym crowd to a frenzy.
JCSU's
Stedmon Lemon (Lithonia, Ga.) would hit a three from the corner to make it 43-34 with 2:09 left in the first. Following a Shaw basket by
Robert Davis, III (West Friendship, Md.) capped the first half as he went the length of the court with 3.9 seconds left and hit a floater and the buzzer to give JCSU the 45-38 halftime lead.
The Golden Bulls shot 63% in the first half on a 17-27 effort, including 2-5 from long range. JCSU also pounded the ball inside in the first half, outscoring the Bears 30-16 in the paint. JCSU also scored 16 points on seven first half Shaw turnovers. Shaw managed a 15-29 shooting effort in the first half, good enough for 51.7%. Shaw also went 5-12 from long range in the opening stanza.
In the second half, Lemon had a fast break dunk that extended the JCSU lead to 49-42 with 17:35 left. Shaw would cut the JCSU lead to 49-46 after Joe Reid and John Savoy jumpers.
Shaw's Joe Reid threw down a dunk at the 10:52 mark to bring the Bears to within four points at 54-50. Following a JCSU free throw, the Golden Bull defense forced the 12
th Shaw turnover of the night. The resulting fast break put JCSU's
Stedmon Lemon on the line, where he hit one free throw for the 56-50 JCSU lead. After a Shaw miss and foul, Lemon would go to the line again, this time hitting both shots for the 58-50 lead.
Shaw's John Savoy would halt a two minute scoreless streak on a layup and following a JCSU miss, Kristopher Timmons hit a jumper to bring the Bears to within four at 58-54 with just under eight minutes remaining. JCSU's Robert Davis responded with a jumper of his own to make it 60-54.
JCSU's Lemon would connect on a twisting jumper with 5:37 remaining and was able to draw the foul and the basket. His free throw was good, extending JCSU's lead to 67-56.
Raston Brown (Hephizibah, Ga.) found himself on the receiving end of a pass from Lemon and also connected on the reverse layup, drawing the foul giving JCSU its largest lead of the game at 69-56 with 4:56 left.
A pair of dunks from
Emilio Parks (Ashtabula, Ohio) and Brown vaulted JCSU to a 75-60 lead at the 2:58 mark. Shaw would not be able to get any closer than 13 points the rest of the way as JCSU was able to coast to the 83-67 final.
JCSU shot 30-48 on the night, good enough for 62.5% while Shaw had a 28-61 effort for 45.9%.
The Golden Bulls got 28 points and five rebounds from senior
Emilio Parks.
Diondre Pratt had 20 points and also had five rebounds while
Stedmon Lemon finished with 17 points. Freshman Robert Davis, III rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points of his own.
Shaw was paced by Joe Reid with 14 points while John Savoy had 13. Larry Richardson finished with 12 points and Koron Reed had 11 for the Bears.
With the win, JCSU improves to 11-11, 5-6 in CIAA play while Shaw falls to 10-11, 5-6 in league action. JCSU will travel to take on Fayetteville State on Saturday, Feb. 7 in a regionally televised contest on the Aspire Network. Tipoff from Capel Arena is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
