PORTSMOUTH – Men's basketball never trailed in its game Tuesday evening against Northwestern Ohio. Despite never surrendering the lead, the Bears (3-1) still found themselves locked in a 53-all tie with just over three minutes to play. After that fifth tie of the game, Shawnee State would eventually recapture the lead on its way to a 61-56 victory over UNOH (1-2).
Three Bears finished the contest with double figure scoring totals. Andrew Devlin led the way on 8-of-11 shooting from the field and finished with 18 points seven rebounds. Trevor Banks added 14 points in the win while Devon Carter added 12 points.
Shawnee State started quick with the first seven points of the game. After the Racers' first basket of the game, the Bears would add eight more points to the home side of the scoreboard to take a 14-2 advantage just under five minutes into the contest. However, as would seem to be the case all night, the Bears just could not pull away. With seven minutes remaining in the opening half, UNOH had tied the game at 18-all.
After the second tie of the half at 20-all just moments later, the Bears scored on back-to-back possessions with a basket from Kai Turner and three from Banks. SSU would then carry a 28-24 edge into the locker room.
The Racers tied the game at 35 with 16 minutes to play in the second half and again SSU would build its lead all the way back up to 10 points, 47-37, with a 6-0 run courtesy of Andrew Bendolph as he did all the scoring in that stretch which brought the clock down to 10:30.
Nevertheless, UNOH would again tie the contest at 51-all tie with just over five minutes to play. After trading a pair of free throws for each side to tie the game at 53-all with 4:39 to play, Carter hit a field goal that was followed up by a Banks' three on the next possession to put SSU up five with 2:30 to play.
UNOH would hit a second chance field goal in the paint to cut the deficit to three with 2:19 to play. After a scoreless possession for each side, the Racers had to foul with under a minute to play. Carter would knock down a pair of free throws to make it a 60-55 game with 52 seconds to go. After a Racers' free throw cut the deficit to four, Carter would hit another free throw to take back the five point edge with 32 seconds to play.
After a pair of stops defensively for the Bears with the Racers trying their luck from behind the arc, Mark Bryant came up with a steal in the remaining seconds to secure the Bears' victory.
Bryant's steal was one of two for him on the evening as he also came away with a team-high eight rebounds on the night. Ethan Moffatt also dished out six assists while leading the Bears with three steals. With the win, the Bears have now won their last three games.
Men's basketball will look to continue its winning ways on the road the rest of this week as the team travels to Mount Vernon Nazarene for a 7 p.m. tip on Wednesday. It will wrap up the three-game week with a trip to Davis & Elkins on Saturday at 7 p.m.
