ETTRICK, VA – Francis "BJ" Fitzgerald scored a season-high 30 points but unfortunately fell short to the Bears of Shaw 81-78 in overtime. The Trojans were outrebounded 41-26.
 

First Half
The Trojans were able to score the first bucket of the contest thanks to a layup by Tremere Brown. After Daryl Mackey,Jr. was able to convert an and-one the Trojans were able to take a 11-8 lead with 16:12 left to go. The Bears went on a 7-0 run to take a two point lead with 12:37 left in the first half. The Trojans would respond with a massive 11-0 run of their own to make the score 24-15. The Bears went on to score six straight to cut the deficit to just two with 3:16 left to go in the first half. While the Bears were able to cut the deficit to just two once again, the Trojans were able to take a 33-27 lead into the halftime break.


Second Half
The Trojans came out of the halftime break firing as Francis "BJ" Fitzgerald scored back-to-back buckets to start the half. Shaw was able to go on a 7-0 run to take their first lead since 12:37 in the first half. The Bears lead was short lived as the Trojans were able to take back the lead thanks to a dunk by Tremere Brown and a Francis "BJ" Fitzgerald three-pointer to make the score 46-42 with 11:29 left in the contest. After a tie at 52, the Shaw was able to convert an and-one to go up by three points. After Zach Newkirk hit a three-pointer at the top of the key, Francis "BJ" Fitzgerald went 2-of-2 from the free throw line to knot the score at 57. The Bears mounted a 6-0 run to take a 63-57 lead with just 3:05 left in the game. The Trojans were able to score four straight to cut the Shaw lead down to just one point. The game seemed to be in the bag for the Bears after taking a 69-65 lead with just :17 left. Francis "BJ" Fitzgerald was able to hit four HUGE free throws to tie the game 69 after Daryl Mackey,Jr. was able to force a turnover. The Bears were left :3 to get a shot off and nearly sent the Trojans home with a loss with a half-court shot but ended up leaving the Trojans an extra 5:00 to earn the victory.
 

Overtime
Though the Trojans scored bucket of the overtime period, the Bears were able to take a two-point lead with 2:40 left to go. The Bears went up by four before the Trojans were able to tie it up at 76 thanks to Zach Newkirk and Tremere Brown. Unfortunately, the game ended with a 81-78 win for the Bears.



Team Statistics
The biggest reason for the Trojans downfall proved to be the rebounding category after being outrebounded 41-26 (season-low). The Trojans were able to force 18 turnovers and account for seven steals while also rejecting four blocks. The squad was also able to score 23 points off turnovers, The Trojans drew 20 fouls yet shot a subpar 14-of-19 (73.7%) from the foul line. The Trojans shot 30-of-63 (47.6%) from the field as 50 points come from inside the painted area. Unfortunately, the Trojans were not able to find much consistency from deep hitting 4-of-17 (23.5%) of their shots from deep. The Trojans forced Shaw to shoot 30-of-72 (41.7%) and just 4-of-24 (16.7%) from the three-point arc. The Bears shooting from the foul line proved to be another deciding factor in the contest shooting 17-of-20 (85%). The matchup saw 10 ties and 13 lead changes.
 

Stat Leaders
Francis "BJ" Fitzgerald led the game scoring a season-high 30 points along with four rebounds, three dimes and a steal. Fitzgerald shot 10-of-20 (50%) from the field and 8-of-10 (80%) from the foul line. Zach Newkirk scored a season-high 21 points shooting 8-of-15 (53.3%) from the field and 2-of 5 (40%) from three-point range. Newkirk also added a rebound and four assists in the tough overtime loss. Tremere Brown finally found his footing after scoring 15 points on 7-of-12 (58.3%) from the field while grabbing five rebounds Tim Montgomery has been an assist machine as of late as he gained at least five assists in two of his last three matchups. Montgomery ended with five points and a game-high six assists. He also accounted for three rebounds and a steal. Daryl Mackey,Jr. led the game with a career-high three steals grabbed three boards and scored three points.  


Up Next
The Trojans will make their last trip out of the state this Saturday, February 11 as they head down to Elizabeth City State to take on the Vikings at 3:00 p.m.