Johnson's double-double, Harris' 22 leads SSU men to 75-58 victory over Indiana-Kokomo
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
IU Kokomo (14-5, 4-5) | 29 | 29 | 58 |
|
Shawnee State (14-5, 8-1) | 38 | 37 | 75 |
In a dominating effort, the Shawnee State men's basketball program shot 59.6 percent from the field (31-of-52), went 9-of-21 (42.9 percent) from three-point range and got 22 points, five rebounds and five assists from Chaze Harris as well as a 19-point, 10-rebound performance from Tyreke Johnson to lead for the River States Conference contest's final 38:11 in a 75-58 trouncing of the Indiana-Kokomo men's basketball program Thursday evening at Waller Gymnasium.
Shawnee State, who gave up a layup on the opening offensive possession 14 seconds into the game, answered on the following offensive possession with a Harris layup -- starting a 9-0 run over a one-minute, 42-second span that allowed the Bears to collect a 9-2 advantage with 17:34 to play in the opening half.
IU-Kokomo gradually cut Shawnee State's lead down to margins of 21-20 with 9:08 to go in the opening half and 23-22 with 8:20 to go in the same stanza, but that was as close as the Cougars would get to the lead over the remainder of the contest as the Bears answered with an 11-0 run to go up by double-digits in the conference matchup. SSU never led by less than six points the rest of the way as the Bears' ball movement (15 assists on 31 made baskets) was key in the win.
Harris keeps up highly-efficient scoring pace
Playing in just his ninth game at Shawnee State, 6-5 sophomore wing Chaze Harris eclipsed the 20-point barrier for the seventh time in those nine contests as the former Bedford High School and Lakeland Community College product continues to score at a rapid rate.
In putting on his most efficient offensive showing since his very first game with the Bears against Ohio Christian back on Dec. 16, Harris wasted no time getting going as the positionless talent scored or assisted on nine of Shawnee State's first 13 points to begin the game and aided in a defensive trap that helped lead to a basket in between Shawnee State's game-opening 13-9 lead.
In the second half, Harris went off again -- scoring 10 of Shawnee State's first 12 points to begin the second half over a five-and-a-half minute span to help the Bears maintain between a three to five possession lead before going on a 13-6 run over a span of 4:34 to conclude matters.
Of his 22 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals, Harris dropped in 14 points, three rebounds, three assists and all three of his steals in the second half alone while going 6-of-8 from the floor.
Harris ultimately finished with his 22 markers on 10-of-13 shooting -- the third time over his first nine games that he shot at least 70 percent or better from the field. Harris has shot 66.7 percent or better from the floor in six out of his first nine contests and has made less than half of his shots just one time in a truly historic scoring rampage that has Harris sitting at 24.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 2.7 steals per game on 64.5 percent shooting from the field.
Johnson produces in big way
In his own highly-productive outing, 6-6 junior guard Tyreke Johnson reached double-figures for the 16th time in Shawnee State's 19 contests and posted his second double-double of the year, matching a 19-point, 10-rebound showing against Alice Lloyd (Ky.) back on Nov. 28 with another 19-point, 10-rebound outing in Thursday's victory over IU-Kokomo.
Johnson helped close out the aforementioned 11-0 run in the first half by making three consecutive shot attempts to put Shawnee State ahead by a 34-22 margin with 2:59 to play in the opening half, but his best work came in the second half of action as Johnson went off for 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range while adding in four rebounds. All 13 of those points came in the game's final 9:19 of play as the Georgia native essentially closed the deal on the double-digit victory.
Johnson also went 2-for-2 from the free throw line in the final half of play and provided stingy three-quarters court defense alongside Harris that helped lead to fastbreak opportunities for themselves.
Additional
Keith Germain (eight points), Elkin Ramirez (seven points, three rebounds), EJ Hubbert (seven points, three steals), John Dawson (five points, two rebounds) and Tre Beard (five points) all went on mini-scoring streaks during different spurts in the contest. The quintet combined to go 13-of-24 from the field and turned the ball over just three times between them in the convincing victory. AJ Belton added in the final pair of points for Shawnee State on a second-half bucket.
Shawnee State (14-5, 8-1 RSC) won its seventh game in a row and claimed its 10th victory over its last 11 affairs. The Bears will turn their attention to a 3 p.m. matchup against Saint Mary-of-the-Woods (Ind.) Saturday afternoon at Waller Gymnasium.
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