SSU MBB drops 74-64 decision to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in RSC Semifinals
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Shawnee State (20-9) | 34 | 30 | 64 |
|
St. Mary-Woods (25-5) | 42 | 32 | 74 |
The men's basketball program at Shawnee State got 15 points each from Tre Beard and Chaze Harris as well as a solid double-figure outing from John Dawson (10 points), but the Bears couldn't claim victory as Saint Mary-of-the-Woods nabbed a 74-64 decision in a River States Conference Semifinal contest that was held at the Knoerle Center on Saturday afternoon.
Shawnee State shot a respectable 41.1 percent from the field -- and went 48.1 percent from the floor in the first half including a 55.6 percent mark from three-point range in the opening half of competition -- but the Bears were held to 34.5 percent shooting in the second half of play, and were outrebounded on the glass by a plus-17 margin by Saint Mary-of-the-Woods (44-27) in the contest.
Trailing by a 12-3 margin over the first 3:38 of the contest, the Bears utilized a balanced scoring effort to get back into the contest.
Following five straight points from the duo of Chaze Harris and Keith Germain to cut the SMWC lead to a 14-9 count, the Bears battled SWMC to within a four or five point margin for much of the opening half before Harris' layup with 7:35 to play in the opening half of competition cut the deficit to just two, 23-21.
An 11-3 run by SMWC over the next 3:17 allowed the Pomeroys to take as large as a 34-24 lead, but a late first half three-pointer by Elkin Ramirez and five straight points from Beard allowed SSU to whittle the lead down to a 40-34 count before a dunk by Saint Mary-of-the-Woods Shon Tupuola put the Bears behind by an eight-point margin, 42-34, at the halftime break.
Behind a great effort by Tony Webb, Jr., Shawnee State worked its way right back into the fight as the Bears cut the SWMC lead down to a 48-43 margin behind three low-post baskets from Tony Webb and an and-one by John Dawson. After a defensive stalemate for a six-minute period midway through the second half, Tre Beard's steal and jumper off of the pickpocket, along with two free throws from Tyreke Johnson, allowed Shawnee State to cut the Saint Mary-of-the-Woods lead to a scant 54-53 mark with 10:53 to play. Then, over the next two-and-a-half minutes, Harris added in a layup while Johnson hit the front end of two free throws -- knotting the score at 56-all with 8:20 to go.
However, in that final 8:20, the Bears simply couldn't get the ball to drop -- as Shawnee State converted just two field goal attempts over that stretch, allowing Saint Mary-of-the-Woods to go on a 10-0 run over a span of 3:24 which proved to put the contest on ice.
Additional
Harris added in six rebounds and three assists while Beard notched five steals to lead Shawnee State.
In Michael Hunter's first season, Shawnee State notched 20 victories in the regular season and Hunter, as a result, sits just two victories off of tying the most wins for a first-year head coach in program history, which was set by Geno Ford in the 2001-02 season when Ford went 22-10 overall.
Team-wise, the Bears are led by four double-figure scorers (Chaze Harris, Keith Germain, Tyreke Johnson and Tre Beard) as well as two 1,000-point scorers for their collegiate careers in Germain and Johnson. John Dawson sits just 24 points away from 1,000 points for his college career in his own right.
Offensively, Shawnee State shot 50 percent from the field through the regular season and conference tournament, and 39.2 percent from three-point range. The Bears are ranked eighth across the entire NAIA in three-point field goal shooting percentage and are tied for 19th in field goal percentage.
Beard, in particular, is a top-flight shooter. The multi-year letterwinner, following Saturday's contest, sits seventh in the NAIA in free throw percentage (90 percent) and eighth in the NAIA in three-point field goal percentage (48.8 percent).
Shawnee State won 13 of 15 contests from Dec. 5 through Feb. 6 to get to 20-8 overall -- building a case for NAIA Men's Basketball National Tournament inclusion in the process. As of the latest NAIA Hoops Report Bracketology, the Bears were projected to be in the field as a No. 14 seed. That particular bracketology projection has SSU traveling to Sioux City, Iowa to play No. 3 Roosevelt (Ill.) as a projected outcome.
The official NAIA Men's Basketball National Tournament Selection Show will take place Thursday, March 7 at 7 p.m. EST/6 p.m. CST.
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