Box Score By Jim O'Hara

ROME, Ga. – Using a little bit of the old with a lot of some new, the Shorter Hawks gave their coach a hint of optimism of what's ahead.

In their season opener Monday night at the Winthrop-King Centre, the Hawks notched their first win right out of the gate when Shorter used a second half surge to hand the visiting Carver Cougars of Atlanta a 115-93 defeat in a non-conference showdown that answered some of the preseason questions head coach Chad Warner had – how the almost entirely new team would mesh in a game.

"We played hard and we played together," Warner said after the impressive and balanced showing by the Hawks, who ended the night with all five starters in double figures. "We're hoping to get 9 or 10 guys ready to play every game because we'll need that as we get into the season.

"I'm glad we got the win," the coach said, "and everybody got to play. But we know we have to keep working."

Junior point Dedric Ware and senior forward Brandon Pullman – the "old" veterans back from last year's NCCAA National Championship team – opened the new season stepping up their games.
Ware led all scorers with 24 points as he connected on 10 of 17 shots from the floor while Pullman added 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Three newcomers to the Hawks joined the pair in double digits as Jordan Jacks poured in 20 points and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds – the Hawks out-rebounded Carver 65-43 under the glass – and Kurtis Woods and Travis Jones added 18 and 11 points, respectively.

The Hawks took command of the game from the opening tip, hitting a solid 54 percent of their shots from the floor during the first 20 minutes of play, and did so with Woods, Jacks, Ware and Pullman providing the spark.

All four of the players were already in double figures at the break – Woods led the charge with 15 first-half points – thanks to accuracy as the quartet canned 21 of the 37 of their shots as Shorter held a 57-48 advantage heading into the second half.

That's when the Hawks took it to a higher level, building a comfortable 94-69 lead with 7:20 remaining when Ware hit the back end of a pair of free throws. Pullman made it a 31-point difference with less than six minutes left and with 5:01 to go Shorter took its largest lead of the night, a 104-71 margin, when Travis Jones scored, was fouled and converted the three-point play.

The Hawks wound up shooting 49 percent from the floor, while allowing Carver to convert just 38 percent of its shots.

Derek Douglas led Carver with 15 points, while Frederick Walker and Jamil Saaka had 13 each.

The Hawks return to action taking their show for a road test on Friday when Shorter heads to Atlanta for a non-conference test at Clark-Atlanta, and after a week off travels to Young Harris for back-to-back battles on Nov. 22-23 squaring off against another pair of Peach State threats, North Georgia and host Young Harris.

Following their trio of road games, the Hawks return home on Nov. 25 to host College of Faith and after a Thanksgiving break turn their attention to their Gulf South Conference opener on Dec. 14 when they host West Georgia.