SSU men rally from 14-point first half deficit to defeat Alice Lloyd (Ky.), 88-79

Just two weeks after overcoming a 16-point second half deficit against No. 5-ranked Georgetown (Ky.), the Shawnee State men's basketball program victimized another opponent that jumped out to a sizeable double-digit advantage.

The victim, you ask? Another college basketball program from the Bluegrass State.

In its River States Conference opener against Alice Lloyd (Ky.), the Bears, who trailed the Alice Lloyd Eagles' men's basketball program by a 43-29 margin with 1:14 to play in the opening half of competition, scored the final five points in the opening half as Jackson, Miss. guard Landon Ray hit the second of his two three-pointers with 57 seconds left to play in the first half, while Tre Beard hit a contested layup at the buzzer to help bring the Bears within a 43-34 margin at halftime.

That late spurt seemed to put a spark in Shawnee State, who ultimately went on a 47-15 run from the 1:14 mark of the opening half to the 4:17 count of the second 20-minute stanza en route to claiming an 88-79 victory over Alice Lloyd Tuesday evening at Waller Gymnasium in Portsmouth.

Closing in on a program milestone

In obtaining victory Tuesday evening, the Shawnee State men's basketball program claimed the 499th victory in program history against Alice Lloyd -- who was the Bears' opponent in its second-ever contest against outside competition in the NAIA upon its inception as a four-year program in the 1988-89 season.

Shawnee State (4-3, 1-0 RSC) proved to be efficient all game as the Bears closed in on its 500th career victory, as the Bears went 33-for-58 from the field while also shooting a blistering 10-for-23 from three-point range en route to not only matching Alice Lloyd's up-tempo style, but limiting it successfully, as well.

Defensively, the Bears held Alice Lloyd (4-2, 0-1 RSC) to over nine points below their season average coming in and also held the Eagles to a 41.1 percent clip (30-for-73) from the field, which was 13 percent less than Alice Lloyd had shot from the field coming into the conference affair.

Of the three double-figure scorers that Alice Lloyd had coming into the contest, Ben Strickland was able to post a 22-point outing, but the Eagles' Ben Soumahoro and Jack Brown were held to 10 points combined on 3-for-12 shooting (25 percent) between each of them after averaging 16.8 points and 11.6 points on 69.4 percent and 47.2 percent marks, individually, coming into Tuesday's contest.

Johnson strikes again in second half

For the second home contest in a row, Shawnee State's Tyreke Johnson was simply too hard to guard in the final 20 minutes of play.

In fact, the 6-6 junior from Woodstock, Ga. -- of the 19 points and 11 rebounds that Johnson ultimately finished with -- notched all 19 points as well as 10 out of the 11 boards in the final half of action while shooting 7-for-11 from the floor. Johnson scored seven straight points in a two-minute, 43-second span from the 17:23 to 14:39 marks of the second half of competition en route to helping the Bears rally once again, as his string of seven straight points helped tie the score at 45 apiece at the 14:39 mark of the second half of play.

Raining threes from Ramirez

Quickly becoming one of the best shooters to ever grace the Waller Gymnasium hardwood floor, Elkin Ramirez showed way in a second half explosion of his own.

After being held to two points himself in the opening half of play, Ramirez caught fire as the junior from Indianapolis, Ind. ultimately finished with 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the field and 4-for-5 from three-point range. Ramirez helped the Bears close matters by scoring eight of Shawnee State's last nine points as Alice Lloyd, who rallied from a 74-58 deficit to cut the Shawnee State lead to 76-68, got no closer thanks to the sharpshooter's efforts on both ends of the floor.

Balance, efficiency dotted across roster

As has been the norm for the Shawnee State men's basketball program, essentially everybody who played was effective.

Keith Germain had an average night for his own lofty standards, but helped keep Shawnee State in the basketball game early by supplying all 12 of his points in the first half of play, while Tony Webb, Jr.'s agility and size not only led to an 11-point, five-rebound on 3-for-4 shooting and 4-for-5 from the free throw line but kept the Eagles off-balance as Alice Lloyd was forced to respect his efficient outing.

In 16 minutes -- like Germain and Webb -- senior guard John Dawson supplied an efficient nine-point, four-rebound performance while going 3-for-5 from the field, while Tre Beard again played a team-high 36 minutes and filled the stat sheet with seven points, five rebounds, and team-highs of four assists and three steals.

The previously mentioned Landon Ray saw his first official game action of the year and made the most of it with his two first half three-pointers giving the Bears a lift, while AJ Belton played 23 gritty minutes with six points and six rebounds and J.R. Lumsden added in six rebounds while matching Beard's team-high of four assists -- not letting an off-night from the floor affect his own efficiency in the additional aspects of the game.

Additional

Shawnee State will step out of official game action as the Bears will travel to face NCAA Division I foe Kent State in Kent, Ohio in an exhibition contest. Both teams are 4-3 to start the 2023-24 season.

A River States Conference matchup with Point Park (Pa.) in Pittsburgh, Pa. follows Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.

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