Pikeville, Ky. – Shawnee State men's basketball had a comeback fall short on Saturday afternoon, falling to (6) Pikeville 88-84 at the East Kentucky Expo Center.
The Bears would trail big early as Pikeville would race into the lead. A 16-2 UPike run buried SSU into a huge hole with 14:18 left in the first half. Shawnee State would chip away at the lead, with Selby Hind-Wills (SO/Crawley, England)' free throw cutting the lead to 37-31, but Shawnee State would not get any closer in the half and would trail by eight, 43-35, at halftime.
Pikeville would push their lead out to double digits again after halftime, and it would remain there and reach as many as 16 for much of the period. Shawnee State would see both Jayllen Carter (SR/Portsmouth, Ohio) and Frederick Moore (SR/Cincinnati, Ohio) get into foul trouble as both players would go to the bench.
With both of their leading scorers out, Shawnee State would mount an improbable comeback. Selby Hind-Wills would hit a layup to cut the lead to 76-68, and EJ Onu (FR/Cleveland, Ohio)'s put-back less than a minute later cut the lead to six. The Bears would continue to keep the score close and would chip away until Matt Rhodes (SR/Westerville, Ohio)' turnaround jumper brought Shawnee State within one at 79-78. After a Jayvian Delacruz bucket, Rhodes would again hit over Jordan Perry to cut the lead to one again. However, Shawnee State would get no closer as Pikeville would dig in defensively and fend off Shawnee State's furious rally to win 88-84.
EJ Onu led Shawnee State with 18 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Jayllen Carter and Bryan Rolfe (SO/Lucasville, Ohio) each had 14, and Selby Hind-Wills and Matt Rhodes each had season-highs with 11 points each.
Jayvian Delacruz scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Pikeville. Darrion Leslie had 15 points and 15 rebounds, Jordan Perry had 17 and Rze Culbreath had 16.
The loss drops Shawnee State to 8-7 on the season, with the Bears falling to 0-1 in the Mid-South Conference. Pikeville improves to 16-0 and are 1-0 in the league. SSU falls to 21-3 in the all-time series and have now lost the last 13 to Pikeville.
Shawnee State men's basketball returns home on Monday, December 8 when they take on Central State (Ohio). Tip-off is set for 7:30pm.
