Portsmouth, OH – Tevin Olison netted 34 points, but it wasn't enough as the #11 Patriots men's basketball team falls to Shawnee State 80-72 Thursday afternoon. With the win Shawnee State improves to 8-2 overall and 4-1 in conference play, while the Patriots move to 8-3 overall and 2-3 against the MSC.
Olison 34 points are tied for second most in his career and it marks the first time in his Patriot career that he scored at least 30 points in consecutive games.
Jahi Hinson added 12 points and five rebounds, while Deng MAyot finished with seven points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Lamar Harris chipped in six points and six boards in the game.
Shawnee State came out strong hitting a pair of three's to jump out to an 11-2 lead in the first three minutes of the contest.
Deng Mayot and
Ismiell Etienne drained buckets for UC, however, the Bears continued to answer doubling up UC 20-10 with 13:31 left. UC continued to battle getting field goals from
Tevin Olison,
Steven Fitzgerald, and
Jahi Hinson, which sparked a 9-2 run that cut the deficit to 22-19 midway through the first half. The Bears knocked down a pair of long range shot to extend their lead to 32-21 with 6:44 remaining. From that point, the Patriots took over the game as Olison found
Josh Williams for a three-pointer to spark a 15-3 UC run to close out the first half with a 36-35 lead. Four different Patriots scored during that run and Olison capped it off with a field goal at 43-second mark to give Cumberlands its first lead of the game.
The game was tied twice in the first three minutes of the second half, however, a 12-2 run by Shawnee State put them in front 51-41 with 14:18 remaining. Olison and
Jahi Hinson combined to score 11 of UC's next 13 points to cut the deficit to 58-54 midway through the second half. The two teams traded baskets before
Lamar Harris drained a pair of free throws to bring UC within three at 61-58. Seven straight points by Shawnee State quick extended their lead to 68-58 with 4:50 left. Coming out of a timeout, Williams knocked down a jumper before Olison drained his third three-pointer and a field goal to bring UC within three at 68-65 with 2:57 remaining. That was the closest the Patriots came as Shawnee State scored seven straight points to push their lead to 75-65. Cumberlands continued their hard play as Olison scored seven of the next nine points, including a put-back slam to cut the deficit to 77-72 with 24.3 seconds left. Amier Gilmore and James Jones hit free throws for the Bears to seal the 80-72 win.
The Patriots will kickoff 2021 Saturday when they host MSC rival Thomas More at 4 p.m. on Randy Vernon Court. This will be a rematch of last year's MSC Tournament semifinals. Live video is available
here, while live stats are available
here.
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