Claflin Panthers Battle, Fall Short at Shaw in CIAA Action

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by Panthers Sports Information Department

Raleigh, N.C. – The Claflin University men's basketball team battled till the final seconds, but came up just short, falling to Shaw University by five, 71-66, Saturday (Nov. 24) in a Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) contest at C.C. Spaulding Gymnasium.
 
The loss, the second straight for Claflin, drops Claflin to 2-4 overall and 1-1 in the CIAA.
 
Shaw improves to 4-2 overall and 1-0 in the CIAA.
 
Danny Brown recorded his second straight 20-point plus game, dropping in a team-high 22 points, including 6-of-11 from behind the arc.  Jaimik Moore was the only other Panther player to score in double-figures with 17.  Moore also led the team on the boards with seven.
 
Cornellius Reynolds had a solid game all-around finishing with six points, five rebounds, five steals and one block.  Jordan Jones came off the bench to contribute eight points for Claflin in the loss.
 
Shaw, who had four players to finish in double-figures, was led by Amir Hinton with a game-high 24 points.  Jah'lill Carter recorded a double-double, 19 points-12 rebounds, and Davon Dillard also finished with a double-double 12 points-10 rebounds for the Bears. 
 
Vaughn Kelsie rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10.
 
For the game, Claflin shot 36.7 percent from the field, 45.2 percent from three-point range and 61.5 percent from the charity stripe.
 
Collectively, Shaw finished the game shooting 43.7 from the field, 27.8 from behind the arc and 85.7 percent from the free-throw line.
 
Claflin opened the second half with a three-pointer by Brown to close the gap to 14, 37-23, but Shaw managed to maintain the momentum from the first half.  The Bears used a 13-5 run to push the lead to 22 (50-28) with 15:17 remaining in the game. 
 
The Panthers slowly chipped away at the lead scoring the next 11-of-14 points to pull within 14, 53-39, with just over 10 minutes left. But Shaw would not be outdone.  The Bears pushed the lead back to 20, 59-39, at the 8:31 mark, before Claflin regained the momentum. The Panthers outscored the Bears 14-0 over the next two-plus minutes to cut the deficit to six, 59-53, with 5:55 left in the contest.
 
Shaw pushed its lead to eight on two occasions, the last at the 3:12 mark, 63-55, but Claflin continued to press.  The Panthers scored the last 11-of-19 points down the stretch.
 
The first half of the contest belonged the Bears.  After Claflin scored the opening points of the game off a layup by Reynolds, Shaw went on a 7-0 run to take control of the half.  Brown hit a three-pointer for Claflin at the 15:20 mark to cut the lead to two, 7-5, but that would be as close as the Panthers would get in the half.
 
The Bears went up by as many as 14, 25-11, at the 6:57 mark before enjoying the 17 point half-time lead, 37-20.
 
Claflin will remain on the road for its next three contest beginning Thursday, Nov. 29, when they travel to Tuskegee, Ala., to take on Tuskegee University in the second of two meetings of the season.  The Panthers will then return to CIAA play, facing Chowan on Dec. 1 and Elizabeth City State on Dec. 3.