MURFREESBORO – Power surge.

Shaw University used one Saturday afternoon and the visiting Bears pulled off a honey of a win against Chowan, 89-69.

Shaw rose to 2-0 in Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) play while Chowan fell to .500 overall at 5-5 and are winless (0-2) in league contests.

Playing just seven or eight players the Hawks are getting balanced scoring with a quartet of players in double-figures.

Kyree Bethel led the effort with 22 points, a dozen of those coming from 4-of-7 shooting from beyond the three-point line.

Also in double-digit scoring were Quinton McDuffie with 15, freshman Kortez Smith adding a dozen – all from behind the arc – and 11 more came from Ashante Ross.

It was the third consecutive game that four or more players have scored in double figures, but Chowan’s record in that trio of contests is 0-3.

With a dominant size advantage in the paint, the Bears shot a season best 63 percent from the floor and defensively, they limited the Hawks to 46 percent shooting.

Still, it was Shaw’s backcourt, led by Curtis Hines, who led all scorers with 24 points, that dominated. Most of Hines’ points – 18 – came in the second half.  Two other Bears tallied double-figures.

Where the height also hurt was on the boards where Shaw nearly doubled-up the home team, 33-18; with 21 of those caroms coming on the defensive end.

“They out-rebounded us by a lot,” said McDuffie. “We’ve just got to get better in practice from all standpoints of the game.”

“0-and-2 is not good, and we’ve just got to keep working to get better,” he added. “New coach, new system. We’re going to (have to) implement some things that will hopefully get us better.”

With the score tied 2-2, Shaw used a 6-0 run to pull ahead 8-2 with nearly 17:30 minutes left in the half.

Trailing 13-4, Chowan used a 10-2 run with 4:23 left in the first half to pull within one point, 24-23.

Smith – who was 4-for-4 from behind the line – then launched a rainbow three-pointer that tied the game at 27-all with 2:47 left and awoke the lethargic Chowan crowd.

Then a layup from Ross gave Chowan its first lead of the evening at 29-27. But that tiny bulge was short-lived as a Shaw three-pointer came on their next possession and put the Bears ahead 30-29 at halftime.

Then came the second half.

Shaw opened half number two on a 23-7 run to build a 53-36 lead in the first six minutes of the frame. Just past the halfway mark, the Bears took a 22-point advantage, 67-45,.

But there was still plenty of fire left in Chowan.

Led by four Bethel field goals – three of them treys – the Hawks used a 17-4 run to get the deficit under double-digits and pull within nine, 62-71, with 5:10 left.

However, the Bears answered back from the low post and midrange jumpers from the perimeter to close out the second half on an 18-7 run and win the game by 20.

Chowan closed out its three-game home stand to open 2013 against the St. Augustine’s University Falcons Monday night at the Helms Center.

It marked the second meeting between the two teams as SAU took a 75-58 win in the Catawba Classic back in November.