The Shawnee State Men's Team fell in a heartbreaker to No. 17 ranked St. Catharine Patriots on Saturday afternoon. The Bears knotted the game at 64 apiece with just over five minutes remaining, but the Patriots would close the game outscoring the Bears 13-5 in the final minutes for the 77-69 victory. Shawnee State goes to 6-3 on the season and 2-2 in the Mid-South Conference. The Patriots improve their record to 6-4 overall and 2-1 in conference action.
Shawnee State opened the game on a 6-0 run. Junior Ian Nixson (Columbus, OH) made 1-of-2 free throws for a technical foul by St. Catharine in warm-ups. On the opening play, freshman Austin Vance (Lenore, WV) stole the ball and made a layup on the other end and on the Bears' next possession Nixson drained a 3-pointer to give the Bears the 6-0 lead. St. Catharine's got on the board on a 3-pointer by DeShawn Mitchell. The teams exchanged backs and the Patriots took their first lead, 12-10 on a tip-in by Mitchell with 13:42 left in the half. St. Catharine would extend their lead to as many as 11, with 5:14 remaining in the half. The Bears would claw their way back into the game and trailed by only five with 20 seconds remaining. A pair of free throws by St. Catharine's Kashiff Carr would close out the first half, giving the Patriots the 42-36 advantage.
The second half was a battle The Bears scored on their first three possessions to knot the game at 43 apiece. Shawnee State tied the game on four difference occasions, but couldn't take the lead until the 9:43 mark of the game. Junior Tyler Morgan (Hamersville, OH) hit two free throws to give the Bears their first lead of the game at 56-55. The Patriots scored scored back-to-back buckets to recapture the lead. Junior Mark Bryant (Milford, OH) hit a jumper and then a pair of free throws to give the Bears the 63-31 lead with just over five minutes left in the game. Carr answered with a 3-pointer to take the 64-63 lead. Sophomore Andrew Devlin hit 1-of-2 free throws to tie the game at 64 each, but the Patriots would go on 8-0 run and finish the game out scoring the Bears 13-5 for the victory.
Shawnee State shot 38% (22-for-58) from the floor in the game, compared to St. Catharine, which shot 48% (28-for-58). From beyond the arc, Shawnee hit 6-of-19 attempts for 32%, while the Patriots made 4-of-17 attempts for 24%. At the line, the Bears went 19-for-21 for 61%. St. Catharine's converted 17-of-29 free throws for 59%.
Shawnee State had four players score double digits in the game. Bryant finished the game with 16 points, while junior Tyler Boyles (Raceland, KY) came off the bench to add 16 points to lead the Bears. Andrew Devlin had 12 points, while Nixson finished with 11. Morgan struggled offensively in the game, but pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds in the game.
St. Catharine was led by Carr who finished with a game-high 25 points and 10 rebounds. Stephan Pope added 17 points for the Patriots.
Shawnee State returns home on Tuesday, December 6 to host Cincinnati Christian in a non-conference battle. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. in the Frank and Janis Waller Gymnasium.
