SSU drops road contest at No. 5 Georgetown

GEORGETOWN, Ky. -- The men's basketball program at Shawnee State got a terrific first half performance from Tre Beard, who dropped in 16 opening half tallies to put Shawnee State ahead by a 34-32 margin over the No. 5-ranked Georgetown Tigers' men's basketball program at the halftime break, but the Bears ultimately fell to the Tigers, 91-63, in a nonconference matchup that was held Tuesday evening at Davis-Reid Alumni Gymnasium in Georgetown, Ky.

Shawnee State kept pace with Georgetown throughout the opening half in large part because of Beard, who knocked down each of his first two three-pointers over the first four minutes of the contest to draw the Bears within an 8-7 margin with 16:03 to play in the opening half.

When Georgetown pushed that lead up slightly to a 10-7 count, Shawnee State proceeded to answer with its largest run of the contest, going on an 8-0 spurt over a three-minute stretch as Beard, Donovan Lovelace, Marcos Vazquez and Damon Charles all scored from inside the arc to give the Bears a 15-10 lead with 11:20 left in the first half of play.

Both teams proceeded to duke it out with one another over the remainder of the half -- but with the Bears behind by a 25-22 tally, it was Beard, again, who found room behind the line for two more three-point field goals over a two-minute, 20-second span that turned the 25-22 deficit into a 30-29 lead for Shawnee State with 1:10 to go in the opening half.

Georgetown's Gavin Stevens answered with a three-pointer of his own with 50 seconds remaining in the first half to give the Tigers the lead back, but Vazquez answered quickly, scoring just 13 seconds later to tie the game at 32-all. On the final possession of the opening half, Elkin Ramirez -- after a Georgetown turnover with 10 seconds left -- was fouled behind the arc, and proceeded to can two of his three free throws to give Shawnee State a 34-32 halftime advantage.

Unfortunately, the Tigers were able to capitalize quickly in the second half, and Shawnee State went 1-for-16 from the field over the opening 10 minutes of the second half as the Bears were outscored 32-10 during this stretch, which proved to decide the contest.

For the affair, Beard notched 19 points on 4-of-6 shooting from three-point range and a 5-of-5 mark from the free throw line while AJ Belton notched 12 points, six rebounds and a block for Shawnee State.

The Bears (3-3) will get 10 days of rest before returning to action at the well-publicized 'The Show' event, which will be held in Kingsport, Tenn. next Friday and Saturday. Shawnee State will play Columbia International (S.C.) Friday, Nov. 29 at 7:15 p.m. and follow that contest up with another battle against St. Thomas (Fla.) Saturday, Nov. 30 at 5:15 p.m.