Portsmouth, Ohio – Shawnee State men's basketball opened Mid-South Conference play with a thrilling upset on Saturday evening, defeating No. 16 Pikeville 95-86 at Waller Gymnasium.

A sensational first half of basketball saw Shawnee State and Pikeville trade blows early, as SSU got out to an early 6-4 lead. Jayvian Delacruz would hit a three to momentarily put UPIKE up 7-6, but a quick answer from Gio Jackson (JR/Federal Way, Washington) on the other end, followed by an and-one play for Justin Johnson (JR/Cincinnati, Ohio) gave the Bears an 11-7 advantage. The lead would not last long, as Stanley Perrin and Jordan Perry hit on back-to-back possessions to tie the game at 11-11, the third tie of the game to that point.

Luke Layhew and Jovontae Carleton extended the run to 8-0, and Pikeville would go through a long stretch of holding a tenuous lead. Pikeville never led by more than four points in that stretch as SSU answered shot-for-shot. Gio Jackson finally gave the Bears back the lead with a lay-in with 10:56 to halftime. Layhew answered on the other end, but EJ Onu (SO/Cleveland, Ohio) would get in on the scoring with a lay-in to put SSU back up one. After back-to-back buckets for Perrin and Da'Rell Domineck, Tamal Watkins (JR/Columbus, Ohio) would hit a three to tie the game back up at 28-28.

The two teams would not be separated by more than one possession the rest of the first half, and the score would be tied 35-35 with 2:02 to go. Jordan Perry would make a three to give UPIKE back the lead at 38-35, but Onu answered with a shot in the post. Perry would then hit a floater late in the half, and Shawnee State would miss at the buzzer to send Pikeville to the locker room with a 40-37 lead.

Pikeville would open the second half hot, putting SSU in a big hole. After Watkins hit a shot to cut the lead to two, UPIKE would go on an 8-0 run, with Chase Parsley hitting a three to start it and Delacruz a three to end it. The two threes gave Pikeville their largest lead of the day at 53-43, which they would maintain with another lay-in for Domineck with 15:16 to go.

Despite the double-digit deficit, Shawnee State would chip their way back into it. Trailing 55-45, Tim Biakapia (JR/Germantown, Maryland) would hit a corner three to cut the lead down to seven. Biakapia then hit a lay-in to cut the lead down to five, and after a Perry turnover, Jackson scored on a lay-up to cut the lead down to three points. Perrin would get a put-back to extend the lead back to five, but Onu would hit to respond, and Selby Hind-Wills (JR/Crawley, England) would hit a tough shot through a foul to cut the lead down to one at 57-56. Layhew got a dunk on the other end after Hind-Wills missed the free throw to extend the lead back out to three, but SSU chipped away again, and would take the lead on a Hind-Wills lay-in with 11:42 to go.

Leading 64-63 just moments later, SSU started another run to build their lead to double digits. Hind-Wills began the run with another tough shot in the paint, followed by a three from Watkins after a turnover. Watkins then hit again off a missed shot from Layhew to put the Bears up nine. Carleton would respond for a brief respite, but Biakapia answered him with another lay-up. After Domineck split a pair of bonus free throws, Biakapia again hit in the paint to extend SSU's lead to 76-66. The lead would eventually reach 11 points at 80-69 on a Justin Johnson hook shot with 5:48 to go.

Pikeville would not go away quietly, quickly cutting the lead to 80-76 with a 7-0 run, but four points would be as close as UPIKE would get. Shawnee State would not fold to Pikeville's full-court pressure, and get a three from Jackson to make the lead seven again. SSU maintained their multi-possession lead from there with free throws down the stretch, closing out Pikeville in the thrilling 95-86 win.

Shawnee State shot a season-high 63.5% from the field on 33-52 from the floor; the Bears last shot over 60% from the floor against Ave Maria on December 15, 2017 when they shot 61.3%. SSU also shot a season-best 53.8% from three, the second meeting in a row against Pikeville they have shot 50% or better from three. Pikeville won the rebounding battle 30-27 over SSU, and had 13 turnovers to Shawnee State's 13; SSU had 18 assists to Pikeville's eight.

Gio Jackson was tied for a game-high with 25 points to lead Shawnee State. Justin Johnson and Tamal Watkins each added 17 points, Tim Biakapia had 13 and EJ Onu added 12.

Jayvian Delacruz had 25 points to lead Pikeville. Luke Layhew had 13, Da'Rell Domineck had 11 and Jordan Perry added 10.

The win sees Shawnee State improve to 8-5 on the season, and open Mid-South Conference play to 1-0. Pikeville fall to 13-3 and are 0-1 in the league. Shawnee State snapped a 15-game losing streak to Pikeville with the win, and are now 4-23 against UPIKE all-time. The last time SSU defeated Pikeville was on November 21, 2011, when the Bears knocked off then-No. 1 UPIKE 86-84 on the road.

Shawnee State men's basketball returns to play on Monday, January 7 when they head north to take on Central State (Ohio). Tipoff is set for 7:30pm.