Shaw earns big region win over Northside

A strong start to the season was validated in a big way on Tuesday night as the Shaw boys basketball team exploded past Northside for an 83-68 win.

The win gave the Raiders a key region victory to add to its already impressive resume, one that includes a victory over Central and a runner-up finish to the Red Devils in the Shaw holiday tournament. Shaw will get a chance to take the season series against Central when they meet in Phenix City on Thursday.

As for Tuesday night, though, Shaw coach Terry White thought his team did a good job of proving that things have changed from its eight-win campaign a year ago.

“It’s a different team, it’s a different year,” White said. “I thought our guys did a good job showing that. It was big for us to get off to a good start in the region.”

The game was briefly cut to single digits in the fourth quarter, but, by and large, the contest was never in doubt. Shaw built a five point lead after the first quarter and a 41-26 lead by the half. Coming out of the break, the Raiders went on a 17-2 run complete with a couple powerful dunks by Cam Paulding that brought the home fans to their feet.

Leading 51-28 with just over five minutes left in the third, Paulding took a good feed from Dakeen Diaz to put through an uncontested slam to make it 53-28. After a made free throw on the next possession and a bucket by Diaz off of a good pass from Paulding made the score 56-28, the crowd erupted when Paulding put in a one-handed dunk that gave Shaw a 30-point lead with under 4:00 to go in the quarter.

“It fires everybody up when he does that,” White said. “It gives us a lot of momentum. He’s just a great player and a great guy.”

Paulding was the third-leading scorer of the night for the Raiders with 12. Kourtney Shakespeare added 14 and Diaz had 24.

Led by Davion Thomas’ game-high 29 points, including a handful of momentum-swinging dunks of his own, Northside cut into Shaw’s lead to briefly get within nine points in the fourth quarter. Shaw held off the late charge, though, to secure the impressive victory.

Shaw will return to the court at 8 p.m. on Thursday when it plays Central for the third time this season. The two teams have split their previous two meetings. Northside plays on Friday at Harris County.

NORTHSIDE GIRLS 81, SHAW 68: Despite another banner night by Shaw’s Kayla Bonilla, the Lady Patriots were able to hang on for an 81-68 victory to open up region play.

Caitlyn Jakes led the way for Northside with 25 points, followed by Gabi Apiag’s 17, Tselem Gahagan’s 12 and Abbi Blackburn’s 12.

Bonilla, though, was the star of the night despite the loss. She dropped 41 points to lead all scorers. Dawniqua Snead added 13 for Shaw.

Northside plays Friday at Harris County, while Shaw travels to Central on Thursday.

Tuesday at Shaw

Northside 13 13 18 24—68

Shaw 18 23 23 19—83

Northside (68)

Davion Thomas 29, Cordale Scott 10, Hopkins 8, Hall 6, Walton 6, Richardson 4, Apiag 3, Caldwell 2.

Shaw (83)

Dakeen Diaz 24, Kourtney Shakespeare 14, Cam Paulding 12, Devon Porter-Wilson 10, Parker 9, Porter 8, Brown 4, Knight 2.

Records: Northside, 8-3, 0-1; Shaw, 10-2, 2-0. Next: Northside, Friday at Harris County; Shaw, Thursday at Central.

Tuesday at Shaw

Northside 15 23 24 19—81

Shaw 18 16 18 16—68

Northside (81)

Caitlyn Jakes 25, Gabi Apiag 17, Tselem Gahagan 12, Abbi Blackburn 12, Cole 9, Austin 6.

Shaw (68)

Kayla Bonilla 41, Dawniqua Snead 13, Warner 5, Bagsby 4, Thomas 2, Jackson 2, Bowles 1.

Records: Northside, 8-2, 1-0; Shaw, 3-9, 0-2. Next, Northside, Friday at Harris County; Shaw, Thursday at Central.

This story was originally published January 5, 2016 at 10:03 PM with the headline "Shaw earns big region win over Northside."