Throughout the 2020-21 season, the Shawnee State men's basketball program has come up large when it has been needed the most.
In facing its toughest test of the tournament so far, Shawnee State excelled, fending off a late 7-0 push by the Martin Methodist RedHawks' men's basketball program at one point en route to taking home a 91-82 thriller Monday evening in Mid-South Conference Semifinal action.
It marks the Bears' 21st consecutive victory and puts DeLano Thomas in a position that only the 2002-03 unit, led by Jeff Hamilton, has ever been in program history -- a conference championship game.
Shawnee State, who improved to 25-2 on the year, overcame arguably its worst contest from a assist-to-turnover ratio standpoint (nine assists to 14 turnovers) by knocking down 35 of their 69 attempts from the field (50.7 percent) and outrebounding Martin Methodist (16-9) by a plus-16 margin on the glass (50-34).
In all, a total of 10 players scored of the 11 who took part in the contest for Shawnee State.
Onu. Jones show off First-Team All-MSC caliber play
Playing like the Shawnee State version of Kobe and Shaq, as they have all year, James Jones and EJ Onu were, once again, terrific when the Bears needed them the most as the duo combined for 49 points and 12 rebounds on 19-of-30 shooting.
Jones, who earned a first-team all-conference honor for the first time in his basketball career with his All-MSC distinction earlier in the week, dropped 16 of his 25 points in the second half of competition -- even fighting off a minor injury where Jones had to be inserted out of the contest at one point to finish with a 60 percent shooting mark from the floor (9-of-15).
In addition to his scoring, the 6-4 wing from Chicago, Ill. filled up the box score, leading the Bears with five assists and two steals while also grabbing five rebounds to head the winning effort.
Onu -- who set a dominating tone against Martin Methodist back on Dec. 10 in a 25-point, 13-block, 10-rebound showing against the RedHawks -- posted a similar effort Monday evening with a monster 24-point, seven-rebound, seven-block line.
Like Jones, Onu was big in the second half, as the senior from Cleveland, who led SSU with 11 points, four rebounds and four blocks in the opening half, posted a 13-point effort in the final 20 minutes of action. The skilled 6-11 talent ultimately posted his 24 tallies on a 10-of-15 mark (67 percent) from the floor.
Gilmore notches second double-double outing in as many tournament games
Needing another big time effort from their 6-6 junior forward from Eastpointe, Mich., Shawnee State certainly got that from Amier Gilmore. A feared rebounder no matter the opponent, Gilmore enjoyed a balanced outing, ultimately finishing with six points and five rebounds in the opening half of action and seven points and eight rebounds in the second half of play.
Gilmore's 13 points and 13 rebounds came on strong efficiency too, as evidenced by his strong 6-of-8 shooting from the field (75 percent) in the victory.
Abergut gives Bears huge lift to start game
Needing to offset the productivity of Martin Methodist's Darrin Jenkins, Adarion Hudson and Devin Kline, Issac Abergut gave Shawnee State a huge shot in the arm at critical times -- none more so than early on. The junior from Melbourne, Australia scored nine of his 12 points over the game's first 3:35, allowing Shawnee State to shoot out to an 18-5 first-quarter advantage that proved to be crucial as Martin Methodist made its run.
Clutch time
While additional box score don't look overwhelming upon first glance, several players made big time plays outside of the four double-figure scorers.
Jakiel Wells, a rock-solid and steady hand at the point guard spot all season during the Bears' 25-2 run, showed that poise by drilling a pair of big free throws with 8:24 to play to push a two-point SSU lead (69-67) back up to two possessions. Shawn Paris, Jr. knocked down a first-half trey with 2:24 to go in the opening half, helping Shawnee State go on a 5-0 push to end the first half while increasing the SSU lead to a 45-33 count.
Then, there's Miles Thomas. Having gone 0-of-7 from the field heading into the final minutes, Thomas, with the Bears again only up by a pair (76-74), drained a three-pointer with 3:28 to go to put Shawnee State up by a 79-74 margin. That basket keyed a 7-0 spurt that helped SSU stay in front from good throughout the remainder of the game.
Along with the trio's big baskets, Donoven Carlisle came off of the bench to grab six rebounds and a trio of points in 18 minutes off of the pine, while Kobie Johnson and Latavious Mitchell added in two tallies apiece in the nine-point win.
UP NEXT
With the victory, No. 1 Shawnee State will face the winner of either No. 2 Georgetown or No. 3 Thomas More in the Mid-South Conference Championship Game. That affair will commence Tuesday evening at 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. CT.
For more information on SSU Bears Athletics, visit www.ssubears.com or visit the Twitter and Facebook pages at https://twitter.com/SSUBears and https://www.facebook.com/SSUBears. For more information on how to join the SSU Bear Club or for sponsorship of specific SSU players or events, visit https://givetossu.com/bear-club and https://givetossu.com/sponsorthebears
