Portsmouth, Ohio – Shawnee State Men's Basketball Defeated by Lindsey Wilson 87-63 . The Blue Raiders caught fire from three early on in the contest and the Bears couldn't recover.
The Bears finished shooting 40.3% from the field while draining five threes for 20 percent. Lindsey Wilson shot 31-63 for 47% and 16 of 34 for 47% from three.
It was Ej Onu to lead the Bears offensively with 12 points, he also pulled in 7 boards. Selby Hind-Wills (JR/Crawley, England) finished with 11 and Justin Johnson (JR/Cincinnati, Ohio) contributed 8 points and 9 rebounds
It was high octane offense that fueled the first quarter battle between the Bears and the Blue Raiders as the squads would trade buckets for the first 10 minutes. At the 16:00 mark a Justin Johnson layup would give the Bears a 9-8 lead in a contest that remained a one possession game until under 10 minutes to play. With 8:41 left, Lindsey Wilson would embark on a 10-0 run that put them in the driver's seat for the remainder of the period.
In the last five minutes, the Bears had no answer for the barrage of threes from Lindsey Wilson. With 2:15 left in the half the Bears trailed by a score of 44-27. SSU would strike on an excellent reverse layup from Selby Hind-Wills with just over a minute left. Austin Crawford (SO/Brooksville, Kentucky) would wrap the half up with a pair of free throws to make it a 44-33 Lindsey Wilson lead going into halftime.
Lindsey Wilson scored on their first two possessions in the second half to extend their lead 48-34. The Bears defense struggled to contain the three point attack from Lindsey Wilson but with 16:25 left, Chris Byrd (JR/Columbus, Ohio) answered with a three of his own to make it 51-39. On the next possession, Selby Hind-Wills setup in the post before putting back an offensive rebound and bringing the Bears within 10.
After a string of empty SSU possessions, the Bears found themselves down 60-43 with 12 minutes remaining. Lindsey's 9-0 run was cut short by a Selby Hind-Wills free throw to make it 60-44. Tamal Watkins (JR/Columbus, Ohio) drained a three with 8:00 minutes remaining yet the Bears still trailed 68-49. Lindsey Wilson would continue to extend their lead to 20 with six minutes left. Shawnee couldn't overcome the deficit and fell by a final score of 87-63.
The loss puts SSU at 13-12 overall and 4-6 in the Mid-South. Lindsey Wilson improves to 13-13 and 4-7 in conference play.
Shawnee State Men's Basketball returns to action on Thursday, Feb. 14 as they travel to Pikeville, Ky. Tip-off from the Eastern Kentucky Expo Center is set for 8PM.
