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Colleges

Shaw Evens Record With 63-55 Win Over West Chester

Nov 18, 2012

West Chester, Pa. — Shaw held West Chester to 38 percent shooting on the way to a 62-55 win over the Golden Rams Sunday night. The win evens Shaw's record at 1-1 on the season.

The smothering Shaw defense forced eight turnovers in the first eight minutes while completely shutting down the Golden Ram offense. With 11:50 left in the first half, Troy Hockaday hit a three for West Chester, putting them on the board for the first time. By then, the Bears had already scored 15 points - seven of them from Karron Johnson.

The three from Hockaday started what would become an eight-point scoring run, to trim the Shaw lead to seven, but Mohammed Abdur-Rahim hit a short jumper to give the Bears a 17-8 lead.

Twice in the remaining ten minutes of the half, West Chester would pull to within five, but the Bears would respond with points of their own to stretch the lead. By the end of the half, Shaw owned a 33-22 lead.

In the final minute of the first half, Johnson - who scored 12 in the first half - was hit with his third foul, which would limit his playing time in the second half, and give the Golden Rams the opportunity to trim the lead.

West Chester opened the second half with a six-point scoring run, but with 17:33 left in the game, Latrail McCoy found Jamin Shumate who drove the lane for a layup, stopping the Golden Ram scoring run and giving the Bears a 35-28 lead.

The Golden Rams scored the next five points, trimming the Shaw lead to 35-33 with 14:42 left in the game.

Curtis Hines then scored an old-fashioned three, followed by a trey from McCoy that lengthened the lead and took much of the steam out of the Golden Ram charge. West Chester would draw as close as four one more time in the half, then the Bears steadily lengthened their lead, finally ending with the 63-55 win.

Johnson, who saw very limited playing time in the second half, finished the game with 17 points, seven rebounds and two assists. Andre Paulk had nine points while Derrick Hunter had eight. McCoy led the Bears with seven assists.

Corey Blake led West Chester with 13 points, while Ryan McKeaney and Tim Flecken had ten apiece. Blake had seven rebounds to lead the Rams while Jon Breeden had five assists to pace his team.

Shaw remains in the Philadelphia area until Tuesday night when they play Holy Family in a 7:30 p.m. tip.