JCSU Men’s Basketball Wins CIAA Southern Division Crown With 102-92 Decision Over Shaw
Box Score JCSU Men’s Basketball Wins CIAA Southern Division Crown with a 102-92 Decision Over Shaw
Charlotte, N.C. (Feb. 20, 2016) –
The Johnson C. Smith University men’s basketball team clinched the CIAA Southern Division title and with it, a No. 1 seed in the upcoming CIAA Tournament with a 102-92 Senior Day win over visiting Shaw on Saturday afternoon.
The win coupled with Fayetteville State’s 61-57 win over St. Augustine’s allowed JCSU to claim the outright title, finishing with a 7-3 record in Southern Division play to finish ahead of second place St. Augustine’s.
The Golden Bulls got a monster game from senior Stedmon Lemon (Lithonia, Ga.), as he poured in 31 points while grabbing 11 rebounds against the Bears. Collectively, Lemon went 12-of-24 from the field and finished a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Diondre Pratt (Morven, N.C.) also had a big game, finishing with 21 points on an 8-of-14 shooting performance, including a perfect 2-of-2 from long range. Pratt also finished 3-of-3 from the line and finished with seven assists.
Sophomore Robert Davis (West Friendship, Md.) finished with 15 points while senior Alandre Davis (Florence, S.C.) had 11 points for the Golden Bulls.
David Madol lead Shaw with 27 points and eight rebounds while Jamar Cooper added 18. John Savoy, Joell Hopkins, Jr. and Akeem Echols each finished with 10 points in the loss.
After JCSU held a seven point advantage at halftime, JCSU quickly extended the cushion to 12 points at the 15:03 mark following a Lemon free throw. Shaw would then close to within seven points at 67-60 after a Jamar Cooper layup. Pratt then put JCSU up by 12 points again, this time at the 13:08 mark following a layup. A David Madol three pointer followed by a tip-in from DeAaron Ward cut the JCSU lead to 72-65. Shaw could never get the lead under seven points, as JCSU jumped back up by 12 points after a Michael Bowman tip-in and an Alandre Davis jumper with 8:40 remaining.
Shaw again cut the lead to seven points at 88-81 with 5:06 to play but could not get any closer, as JCSU cruised to the 102-92 win over the final stages of the game.
The official pairings for the 2016 CIAA Tournament will be announced on Sunday, Feb. 21. The tournament will take place at Charlotte’s Time Warner Cable Arena from Feb. 23-27.