Lebanon, Tn. - Shawnee State Men's Basketball fell to Cumberland University on Saturday afternoon, losing ground in the second have and falling by a final score of 77-66.
Shawnee State shot 43.3% from the field on 26 of 60. The Bears drained just four threes on 18 attempts and finished at just 52% from the free throw line. Cumberland managed 45.2% shooting on 28 of 62 from the field. The phoenix went 26.7% on 4-15 from threes and shot 77% from the free throw line.
Juwan Grant (SR/Baltimore, Maryland) led the Bears offensively, finishing with 16 points and 5 rebounds. Selby Hind-Wills (JR/Crawley, England), Ej Onu and Justin Johnson (JR/Cincinnati, Ohio) all finished with 10 points.
For Cumberland it was Andrew Rogan with a showout performance finishing with 25 points. Ty Sean Powell had 17 and Asher Blum put up 12.
The first half was hotly contested as both squads showcased good defensive play. After four minutes played, Cumberland gained some momentum and took a 13-5 lead. Scoring opportunities remained scarce as the teams approached the 11 minute mark with Cumberland leading 18-13. With 10 minutes to go Justin Johnson would finish on an acrobatic layup to give the Bears a 19-18 lead, their first since leading 2-0.
The power struggled continued in the last 10 minutes of the first, SSU maintained a collected offensive look while not allowing Cumberland to pull away. The Bears were down five in a 32-27 game with 4:30 to go when Selby Hind-Wils splashed two free throws to bring the Bears within two. A couple close possessions later and the Bears would head into the locker room tied with the Phonix 38-38.
The second half opened up with Cumberland going out on a 4-0 run. The Phoenix would go up by as much as 13 with eight minutes to play. Later in the half with six minutes to play, SSU suffered a scoring draught that lasted over two minutes until Justin Johnson made good on a layup to end the draught. The Bears couldn't slow down the Cumberland offensive attack, going down by 16 just under the five minute mark. Cumberland didn't slow during the later minutes, ultimately winning 77-66.
The loss drops the Bears to 14-13 overall and 5-7 in the MSC. Cumberland improves their record to 10-13 and 3-9 in the conference.
Shawnee State Men's Basketball returns to the hardwood this week, traveling to Campbellsville to take on the Tigers. Tip-off is set for 8PM on Thursday, Feb. 21st.
