Box Score
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (March 2011) — The Lincoln University men's basketball team could not match the firepower of Shaw University on Wednesday afternoon at the Time-Warner Arena in Charlotte, N.C.
With the 67-43 defeat, the Lions' (4-23) first season in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association ends in the first round of the conference tournament against the No. 2 seed from the South.
Highlighting LU's offensive effort was Terron Jones (Bronx. NY/Fiorello H. LaGuardia HS), whose four 3-pointers powered a career-high 22 points. All-CIAA guard Denzel Mooney (Baltimore, Md./Western School of Technology), who entered the game second in the league and No. 11 in the nation averaging 22.1 points per game, was held in check with 11 points against a relentless Bears defense. Senior center Eugene Smith (West Palm Beach, Fl/PennWood ) led the Lions with eight boards, the ninth time he led LU this season. Along with Smith, Emmanuel Kakulu (Boston, MA/Another course of College) and Zane Oxley (Philadelphia/Martin Luther King HIgh School) played their final collegiate game.
Lincoln was just 10-of-31 in the second half and 17 of 51 for the game. Shaw, meanwhile, shot 23-for-46 at 50 percent. Included was a 9-minute, 20-second scoring drought that separated what was a close game.
“We needed somebody else to set up with 10-15 points,” head coach John Hill said. “That's been the case this entire season. We've been trying to find ways to score points.”
From the onset, Lincoln — the No. 7 seed from the North — had difficulties on the offensive end. Shaw (19-8) opened on an 8-0 run over the first 4:37 before Denzel Mooney (Baltimore, Md./Western School of Technology) got a jumper to fall. The basket seemed to allow the group, playing its first ever CIAA Tournament game, to exhale, because the Lions clamped down defensively and executed efficiently offensively over the next six minutes. Another basket by Mooney, a tip-in by Eugene Smith (West Palm Beach, Fl/PennWood ) and a jumper by Jones evened the game at 8-8 with 11:01 left in the opening period.
Although the loss was certainly disappointing, Jones' first bucket sparked what became a memorable day. With 13 points in the season finale against Saint Paul's College on February 24 and now 22 on Wednesday, he has shown the ability to score from all over the floor.
“One game doesn't speak to the whole season; I just spent the law few weeks trying to play more aggressively,” Jones said. “The shots have fallen.”
As the game seemed headed for a tightly matched affair, Shaw took control but this time would not relinquish it. Tony Smith stretched Shaw's lead back to 7 at 18-11 with a deep trey off the right side with 5:30 left in the opening period. Then, the game turned into the Raheem Smith show starting with his trey on Shaw's next trip down the floor. Third in the CIAA with 18.7 points a game, Shaw's guard scored 10 of his team's final 12 points over the period. He finished with a game-high 25 points including 4-of-4 from the perimeter. He also logged a game-high nine rebounds.
A minute after Raheem Smith's 3-pointer, the Bears pick-pocketed Mooney in the lane on a drive in traffic and he laid it in, expanding the lead to 15. He then followed with a trey with 1:57 left in the first half. Quinton Hector (Schertz, Texas/Samuel Clemens HS) answered with his own 3-point basket from the left corner to send Lincoln into halftime at 30-18.
“Today just wasn't my day,” said Mooney, who finished 4-of-17 from the field and 1-of-8 from distance. “I had good, open looks. They weren't really contested until the final minutes. But I couldn't get them to fall.”
Lincoln's biggest problem in the first half, other than Shaw's hot shooting from behind the arc, was self-inflicted turnovers. LU committed 13 in the first half, limiting their opportunities to counter the Bears' strikes. Those errors translated into 17 points for the Bears, while the Lions converted seven Shaw miscues into just three tallies.
The second half began positively enough. Mooney scored the first points on a nice step-back jumper from the corner to get LU back within 10. LU closed to single digits on a 3-pointer by Jones with 16:35 left in the game. But by the time he hit his next one, the game had completely changed.
The Lions just could not answer Shaw with any kind of consistency. After Jones' trifecta, LU suffered through a 9, minute 20 second scoring drought while Shaw amassed a 23-0 run to push its advantage to 57-25 with 7:32 to go.
Hill said afterward that despite the fact that this was the school's first appearance in the tournament, his guys were not awestruck and instead came to play. He added that the week prepared the team for future success in the CIAA.
“It's easy to get wrapped up in this whole experience,” he said. “That wasn't the case with our guys. We came here to compete, and we played hard. It just wasn't our day. The foundation has been laid.”
— LU —
