SSU men cap off doubleheader with contest at Ohio Christian
Winning the State of Ohio is always important.
It is, after all, bragging rights to one's home turf or base.
The Shawnee State men's basketball program accomplished one-seventh of that goal last Tuesday when the Bears defeated fellow in-state foe Wilberforce, 99-94, for the program's 500th victory in its history.
Now, the Bears are on to more important tasks -- which include not only improving on a game-by-game basis and growing as a unit, but claiming its turf against the remaining opposition on its schedule within state lines, which include Saturday's contest against the Ohio Christian Trailblazers' men's basketball program along with follow-up contests at Mount Vernon Nazarene (Dec. 30), at Wilberforce (Jan. 22), at Rio Grande (Feb. 3), vs. Ohio Christian (Feb. 17) and vs. Rio Grande (Feb. 24).
The 3 p.m. tipoff against Ohio Christian, which will be played in Circleville -- just an hour and 15 minutes and a drive essentially straight north on U.S. 23 away from Shawnee State -- is one that SSU head coach Michael Hunter has been looking forward to, to say the least.
"We feel good," Hunter said. "We've had a pretty long layoff with a game cancellation, so we've just been trying to stay active and simulate game repetitions, scrimmages so that we can keep the flow that we had going," Hunter said. "It's a big game for us -- conference games are always big, and it's a regional rival with Ohio Christian, so we always want to make our territory when we go around the area."
While the Trailblazers enter Saturday's contest with a 3-8 overall record, Ohio Christian's play, especially of late, has not indicated what the record shows -- as the Trailblazers lost to 9-1 Mount Vernon Nazarene by just five (87-82) on Nov. 29 and lost by four to 7-4 Rio Grande (85-81) on Dec. 2.
The Trailblazers primarily play a five guard lineup, with graduate student Levi Seiler (19.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.4 steals) and Jimmy Salamone (11.7 points) heading the charge for Ohio Christian.
"They really play without a true center or forward," Hunter said. "Over the entire game, they've pretty much got five guards out on the floor. We play a little bigger. We're going to have to be able to defend, step out, and switch out on guys and contain them. I think that we're going to be ready to go. We've practiced well and have had a good week of competition. It's going to be a tough game and a different style of play, but we're excited about it and ready for the challenge."
Over the past two games, Tre Beard has certainly been ready for the challenge.
In fact, the guard from nearby Chillicothe has posted career-highs in back-to-back contests, notching a career-high 23-point outing on an incredible 6-for-6 shooting from the field and an 8-for-8 mark from the free throw line. This also included a perfect 3-for-3 mark from three-point range.
Easily one of the most improved players in the entire NAIA regardless of conference affliation, Beard is now up to 12.3 points per outing on 45.5 percent shooting and a 38.5 percent clip from three-point range. Beard's also averaging 2.4 assists per outing and has a two-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio to boot.
"I don't think I've seen that before," Hunter said. "I haven't told him that yet, but I don't think I've seen a player take that many shots and threes, and be perfect from the field. Maybe around the basket, but shooting 100 percent -- that's a crazy game. That's an all-timer. He's been getting better. He's getting opportunities now that he didn't get before. Shawnee State had a lot of tough guards (under DeLano Thomas), and he was younger, so now he's maturing and understanding what it takes to play winning basketball. We're proud of Tre sticking with it. He could've broke camp and left when Coach DeLano left, but he trusted me and what I had going, and in conversations he's had with me, I think that we mesh well together. It was all love."
Beyond Beard, however, there are plenty of others who can put the ball in the bucket. Keith Germain (19.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.7 blocks, 56.4 percent shooting) and Tyreke Johnson (15.8 points, six rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.2 steals) have led Shawnee State throughout most of the season, but in recent contests, the scoring has been more diversified as Beard, John Dawson (8.8 points, 38.2 percent three-point shooting), Elkin Ramirez (eight points, 46.3 percent shooting, 43.6 percent three-point shooting) and J.R. Lumsden (5.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 51.4 percent shooting) have all scored in double-figures at least twice over the Bears' last five contests.
"That's the biggest plus to our team," Hunter said. "We have a lot of skilled guys who, on any given night, can go get us 20 points. It's hard to defend that. We like to try to take away a team's top scorer, and on the flip side of that, our top scorer could be any guy on any different night. I think that Keith has had some big games to start the year, but he's settling in to what his normal scoring output will be, which is around 15 to 17, and then other guys are starting to figure out their way. As a result, our scoring numbers are going up and up and up, average-wise, every week. We were pretty low (on an average) starting out, because we were still figuring out who was going to take a shot and who was going to be here. Now, the pieces are starting to gel, and naturally, the numbers are looking better."
And the best part? Shawnee State gets two major second-semester additions to its roster this weekend in Chaze Harris as well as EJ Hubbert.
Harris, who is 6-5, averaged 15.8 points per game on 59.3 percent shooting at Lakeland Community College under Hunter's direction two seasons ago, while Hubbert, who adds a 6-3 frame to the mix, posted an additional 5.4 points per bout in the same season in 18 minutes per outing.
Both players add a blend of versatility, especially defensively, that will give the Bears the ability to expand from a depth standpoint -- but Hunter has been proud of how their attitudes have been to start the season more than anything else, especially knowing that they, themselves, weren't going to be able to play over the first nine games of the season.
"They both jump off the screen," Hunter said. "They're taller guys, bigger bodies, and they played for me before, so they understand what I'm looking for as far as my system goes," Hunter said. "We've changed some things since they played for me last, but pretty much everything that they know will be implemented right away (in a game). They're going to hit the ground running, they've been getting reps in practice. There was always a plan for them to be worked in, provided that they excelled. They worked hard and excelled, they didn't take any days off, even knowing that they wouldn't be eligible to start the year and knowing that they would take a back seat, but in practice, they never took a back seat. They always competed, were first sometimes to come in and run and lift. They've earned the right to hit the floor with the rest of the guys. We're excited."
Considering that a young Shawnee State unit -- who has all but two new faces on it from the 2022-23 unit -- is 5-4 after nine games after starting the 2023-24 season 0-2, those are results Hunter will take, especially after seeing how the Bears have worked to get better over the course of the year.
"At one point, I thought, 'There's a real possibility that we could go 0-9, if we don't get our act together,'" Hunter said. "We did start out 0-2, but it's a testament to the guys and the work that they've put in. The first two games of the season -- nobody will remember those, except maybe the NAIA committee. Nobody will remember those games if we end the season strong. It's all about how we finish, and I think that we're right in the right spot."
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