KINGSPORT, Tenn. -- The men's basketball program at Shawnee State wasted no time jumping all over Union Commonwealth (Ky.) in its first nonconference affair of the weekend at 'The Show' in Kingsport, Tenn. -- as the Bears placed five players in double-figures, posted 19 assists on 33 made baskets offensively, forced 21 turnovers defensively and never trailed in an 89-56 shellacking of the Bulldogs Saturday evening in a nonconference contest that was held at the MeadowView Conference Resort and Convention Center.
GAME SUMMARY
Shawnee State, who improved to 5-3 on the season with the victory, shot 33-of-59 (55.6 percent) from the field as a result of its excellent passing and finding the open man throughout the contest -- and held Union Commonwealth to 23-of-58 shooting from the field (39.7 percent) and a 5-of-26 mark from three-point range (19.2 percent).
In all, a total of 11 different players scored for Shawnee State in the contest -- primarily off of setups from starting guard
Rheyce DeBoard as well as
Tyreon Payne. The duo ultimately combined to tally 13 assists while committing just four turnovers en route to posting a 3.25-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Shawnee State immediately jumped out to an 11-3 lead over the contest's opening four-and-a-half minutes -- with DeBoard knocking down two threes during the stretch to give the Bears an eight-point lead right off the rip.
Union Commonwealth closed the SSU lead initially to an 11-10 margin with 12:16 remaining in the opening half, but from the 11:55 mark to the 6:10 portion of the first 20-minute stanza, the Bears ripped off a 18-3 run over the stretch of 5:45 to take a 29-13 lead with 6:10 to go in the first half.
Jason Steele scored six points during this stretch while
Jareon Mayo and
El Sieger each scored four tallies as Shawnee State took the 16-point advantage.
From there, Shawnee State never led by 14 the rest of the way, and after taking a 38-21 halftime lead, the Bears put the contest to bed in the second half.
Ahead by a 45-30 count with 15:25 to play, SSU sprinted out on a 20-1 run over a span of 5:24 to give the Bears a massive 65-31 lead with Sieger and
Ahmadou Aw each scoring seven points apiece during the run, effectively delivering the contest's knockout punch in the process.
ADDITIONAL
For the second consecutive game,
Jareon Mayo not only led Shawnee State in scoring but was the game-high scorer, posting 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field while adding five rebounds, a steal and a block to boot.
El Sieger added in 13 points and three rebounds on 6-of-7 shooting in 18 minutes of game action while
Ahmadou Aw finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and two steals while going 3-of-6 from the field and 6-of-9 from the foul line with
Daniel Rosenber adding 12 himself on 4-of-4 shooting from the field and a 4-of-4 mark from the free throw line while grabbing three rebounds in 14 minutes of game action.
Jason Steele, the final player to finish in double figures from a scoring perspective, posted 11 points, four rebounds and three steals while going 5-of-6 from the floor.
Rheyce DeBoard (eight points, four assists, two steals, two rebounds),
Trevino Glover (seven points, steal, 2-of-3 from field and 1-of-2 from three-point range) and
Jaiden Guice (five points) all contributed off the bench, as did
Tyreon Payne with his nine assists, three steals and three points in 18 minutes of game time.
Bryson Chandley and
Tyson LaLonde added in two points each, making their only field goal attempt of the night to round out the scoring.
The Bears will turn their attention to a big matchup Sunday afternoon when Shawnee State takes on No. 13 Georgetown, Ky. (8-2) at 2:30 p.m. in the MeadowView Conference Resort and Convention Center on the final day of 'The Show' in Kingsport.
For more information on the Shawnee State men's basketball program, visit Shawnee State men's basketball on Instagram at
https://www.instagram.com/ssuhoops/, on X at
https://x.com/ShawneeStateMBB, or at
https://ssubears.com/sports/mens-basketball.
