Oskaloosa, Iowa – Shawnee State men's basketball held a halftime lead but fell victim to a second half rally, as the Bears fell to Presentation (S.D.) 90-87 in the Wendy's Classic at William Penn University.
The game would begin close, as the two teams played to an early 6-6 tie. Presentation would get the lead on an Ange-Michel Kuo free throw and Elijah Coleman basket, but Austin Crawford (SO/Brooksville, Kentucky) would respond with a three to tie the game. Presentation then pushed out to a six point lead at 15-9, but the Bears would respond, eventually re-tying the game on an EJ Onu (SO/Cleveland, Ohio) basket dunk at 18-18 with 9:53 to halftime. That dunk was part of an 11-0 run that gave Shawnee State the lead, as Tamal Watkins (JR/Columbus, Ohio) scored a lay-in to push Shawnee State out to a 24-18 lead. SSU would lead by as many as 13 points late on a pair of Watkins free throws, but a Tayton Maher three at the halftime buzzer would cut the Shawnee State lead to 46-36 at halftime.
The buzzer beater would give the Saints momentum in the second half to quickly rally. Maher would hit again on the other side of halftime, with the run eventually reaching 13-0 to tie the game at 46-46. Quadre Lollis extended the lead to 15-0 with a put-back to give Presentation back the lead at 48-46. From that point, the two teams would exchange baskets until the score would be tied 55-55 with 14:58 to go.
Michael Hubbert (FR/Tampa, Florida) would hit one out of two free throws after the tie to give Shawnee State back the lead at 56-55, a lead the Bears would hold for a few minutes. A Gavin Brown (SO/Carroll, Ohio) put-back would see the lead grow to a peak of five points at 64-59. However, the lead would not last, and Presentation took back the lead on a three from Vincent Eugene at 65-64 and never trail again. The Saints would lead by as many as eight points at 76-68 with 5:47 to go. SSU would cut the lead back down a single possession at 87-85 with 1:02 to go, but could get no closer, as Presentation would see out the comeback win with late free throws.
Shawnee State went 34-69 from the field and 3-17 from three, shooting 49.3% overall. SSU was 16-26 from the free throw line for 61.5%. Shawnee State outrebounded Presentation 38-34, but were undone by Presentation shooting 51.6% from the field.
Austin Crawford and Tamal Watkins each had 16 points to lead SSU. Justin Johnson (JR/Cincinnati, Ohio) added 15 and Juwan Grant (SR/Baltimore, Maryland) had 12 for the Bears.
Quadre Lollis had a game-high 33 points to lead Presentation. Elijah Coleman added 16; Mychal Deas and Vincent Eugene each added 10 for the Saints.
The loss drops Shawnee State to 5-2 on the season. Presentation gets back to .500 at 5-5 on the season.
Shawnee State men's basketball returns to action on day two of the Wendy's Classic on Saturday, November 24 when they take on the hosts, No. 2 William Penn. Tipoff is set for 8:00pm Eastern/7:00pm Central.
