COLUMBIA, Ky. -- Trailing by a scant 41-39 margin at the halftime break, the men's basketball program at Shawnee State locked the Lindsey Wilson Blue Raiders' men's basketball program down in the second half of competition, holding Lindsey Wilson to just 30.8 percent shooting from the field (8-of-26) in the second half and 38.1 percent (24-of-63) for the contest in the Bears' impressive 80-72 road win Saturday evening against the Blue Raiders at Biggers Sports Center in Columbia.

The win, Shawnee State's fifth in a row, also saw the Bears place five players in double-figures with Jareon Mayo, Rheyce DeBoard and Tyreon Payne leading Shawnee State with 18, 14 and 13 points respectively while Kiante Williams and Ahmadou Aw posted 10 notches apiece. Mayo also added in six rebounds and two steals while Williams and Payne led SSU with seven rebounds while Aw chipped in five grabs.

Perhaps the most impressive quality of the Bears' victory was its passing again -- as Shawnee State found the open man with regularity while limiting its miscues on the offensive end of the floor. Overall, the Bears tallied 13 assists on their 26 made baskets as a team and turned the ball over just eight times in another unselfish display, which has been a major key in Shawnee State's success as a group.

This unselfish style led Shawnee State to excellent percentages from the field as a team -- as the Bears shot 15-of-31 (48.4 percent) in the opening half and 5-of-12 (41.7 percent) from three-point range in the first half en route to marks of 46.4 percent (26-of-56) from the floor and 36.8 percent (7-of-19) from long distance. Payne led Shawnee State off of the bench with four assists to help set the table for much of this success, while DeBoard and Jaiden Guice also chipped in two assists each.

Behind by a 28-23 margin with 6:55 remaining in the opening half, Shawnee State made its first significant push of the contest over a span of 3:13, going on a 13-4 run to take a 36-32 lead with 3:42 to play in the first half of competition with Mayo and DeBoard combining to score each of Shawnee State's 13 points in the spurt (Mayo 7, DeBoard 6) during this timeframe.

Lindsey Wilson countered with a 9-0 run to take a 41-36 advantage with 1:08 left in the half, but a three-pointer by El Sieger just nine seconds later proved to be huge as Shawnee State kept the contest within a possession to end the opening half.

The Blue Raiders then again put pressure on the Bears by opening up the second half with a 12-7 run to take its largest lead of the second half and match its largest lead of the game with a 53-46 edge with 11:53 to play, but over the next 10:19, Shawnee State clearly showed itself as the better team -- going on a massive and difference-making 29-11 spurt to take an eight-point lead, 72-64, in the game's closing moments. Lindsey Wilson never got closer than five points the rest of the way.

Shawnee State (7-3) will turn its attention to its first River States Conference contest of the 2025-26 season when the Bears play host to West Virginia Tech (3-6) Wednesday evening as the nightcapper of a doubleheader that will also see the Shawnee State women (7-3) host the West Virginia Tech women (7-1). Tip off times are set for 5:30 p.m. (women) and 7:30 p.m. (men), respectively.

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.