Portsmouth, OH – Shawnee State Men's Basketball upset another ranked team on Saturday afternoon, knocking off 10th ranked Campbellsville at home. Juwan Grant (SR/Baltimore, Maryland) dropped a season high 20 points in the win against the Tigers.
The game was close throughout the entire contest, there was a total of 12 lead changes in the second half with SSU taking the last one and holding on to win.
The Bears finished shooting 48.3% from the field on 29-60, and 31.3% from downtown going 5-16. Campbellsville shot 33-71 for 46.5%, including 10-28 for 35.7% for three. SSU outrebounded Campbellsville 34-30.
Juwan Grant's season high 20 points led the Bears scoring attack, he shot 6-11 from the field and hit 8-10 free throws. Tamal Watkins (JR/Columbus, Ohio) finished with 17 points on 7-9 shooting. EJ Onu (SO/Cleveland, Ohio) was a huge factor, putting up 16 points including four blocks.
The first half was as close as it gets, with neither team leading by more than six points for the duration of the period. At the 13:50 mark, Campbellsville got out to a six point, 16-10 lead before the Bears quickly answered with buckets from both Juwan Grant and Tamal Watkins to bring them within one. It remained a one point game until 9:15 when the Bears would take their largest lead of the game, on top 24-20. Both teams had an answer for the other on each possession during a physical first half, at halftime it was Campbellsville on top 40-36.
SSU played disciplined basketball in the second half, not giving in despite trailing by as much as 11 with14 minutes to play. Shawnee would go on a 7-3 run to make it 59-53 with 10 minutes to play. The Bears would break through to within five at the 7:00 mark on an Austin Crawford (SO/Brooksville, Kentucky) three pointer on the wing. With six minutes remaining it was 67-62 Campbellsville.
It would be Juwan Grant who would tie it up for SSU with just 1:30 remaining in the contest as he would lay in an offensive rebound. With the score at 75 a piece, a technical foul put Grant on the line for two free throws, he would make both and give the Bears their first second half lead making it 77-75. 30 seconds later, Gio Jackson (JR/Federal Way, Washington) would come up with a steal and foul at the other end, nailing both to put the Bears up 79-76 with 15 seconds left. The Tigers would strike again at the buzzer but it was not enough as the Bears pulled it out by a final score of 82-81.
The win puts the Bears at .500 in conference play (3-3) and 11-9 overall on the season. Campbellsville drops to 16-6, 2-5 in MSC play.
Shawnee State Men's Basketball hits the road this week for two conference matchups against Life (Ga.) and Cumberland (Tenn.). Tip-off against Life is set for Thursday, Jan. 31st at 8PM.
