ELIZABETH CITY, NC- The Vikings took a 84-78 loss to Shaw University in Raleigh, NC on Thursday night.
 
The Vikings drop to 6-4 overall on the season, 0-1 in the CIAA
 
The Bears are 4-4 on the season, 1-1 in the CIAA
 
Junior Guard Justin Faison (Waldorf, Md) fueled the Vikings offensively with 21 points, while junior forward Shykeef Daniels (Greenville, NC) followed up with personal season highs of 19 points and seven rebounds. 
 
Senior forward Joseph Allen led the Vikings defensively recording his fifth double-double of the season with 10 points and 13 rebounds. 
 
Senior forward Tyjhai Byers (Bethesda, Md) captured six blocks on the night with four of them coming in the first 10 minutes of action. Byers currently leads the CIAA in blocked shots.
 
The Bears were fueled by the duo of DaVaughn Kelsey with 26 points and Nigel Martin with 25 points. 
 
ECSU shot 40.8 percent from the field, 25.9 percent from behind the arc, and 56.3 percent at the line.
 
Shaw shot 45.5 percent from the field, 57.1 percent from behind the arc, and 88 percent at the line. 
 
The contest remained close in scoring for majority of the first stanza, but the Vikings allowed Shaw to end the half on a 13-2 run giving Shaw big momentum heading into the half down 38-25.
 
No strange territory for ECSU, the Vikings trailed Shaw by 13 three weeks ago in the R.L. Vaughan Center and came back to win by 10 points.
 
The Vikings outscored Shaw 53-46 in the second half, cutting their deficit down to a 1-point margin off a layup from Daniels making it a 71-70 Shaw lead with 2:15 left to play.
 
ECSU battled back hard but were not able to recover from ending of their first half.

The Vikings will be back in action on Saturday at St. Augustine's University to take on the Falcons 4 p.m. for stop two of their three game North Carolina road trip.