The CIAA knows about Saint Augustine’s College’s Antonio Fitzgerald, Nicholas King and Claude “Chip” Neeley, dubbed the young gunners for their scoring repertoire. On Saturday night, the Falcons introduced Barry Jones and Deon Dixon to Shaw University. Those two along with the Falcons’ big three-helped turn a close game into an 89-59 rout of the Bears before a packed gym at Broughton High School’s Holliday Gymnasium. It was the largest margin of victory for the Falcons in a CIAA game this season.

The victory was the fifth straight for the Falcons (11-3 overall, 5-2 CIAA), and it sets up a Western Division showdown against Johnson C. Smith inside the cozy confines of Emery Gymnasium Jan. 24 (Tuesday) at 7:30 p.m. The Golden Bulls are the preseason picks to win the division.

But the Falcons look like bona-fide contenders during their winning streak, especially in the second half when they outscored the Bears 50-22. With the Falcons leading 39-37 at halftime, the Bears (2-14 overall, 1-5 CIAA) were thinking upset but the Falcons quickly erased those thoughts with a near flawless performance.

Shaw’s defense focused on the Falcons’ top scorers but Jones and Dixon made them pay with accurate shooting and scoring drives. Jones, a junior guard, scored 12 of his season-high 17 points in the second half. Dixon, a sophomore forward, was perfect from the floor as he made 6 of 6 field goals including a three-pointer and swished his only free throw for 14 points, also a season high. He scored 5 points during the decisive second half.

Not to be outdone, the Falcons’ standout trio continued their scoring ways. Fitzgerald, the CIAA scoring leader, led the Falcons with 18 points and added 6 assists and 3 steals. Neeley, the CIAA’s top rebounder, had a double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds and Nicholas King scored 14 points.

The scoring was so balanced that Saturday marked the second time that Fitzgerald, Neeley and King each scored less than 20 points in the same game.

Powered by the double-figure scorers, the Falcons shot 54 percent in the second half and held Shaw to 36 percent. For the game, the Falcons shot 50 percent while the Bears made 41 percent of their shots.

Fitzgerald, a junior guard, capped the victory with a deep three-pointer that wowed the crowd of 2,486 to extend the lead to 83-57 with 1:33 remaining. Seconds later, Carl Gervais, a junior forward, stole the ball and passed to Fitzgerald who threw an alley-oop pass to a trailing Neeley whose two-handed slam put an exclamation point on the contest. For Shaw, Daniel Jackson led the Bears with 17 points and James Rosebud and Melvin Smith added 11. Brandon Green contributed 10 points.