PORTSMOUTH, Ohio – Shawnee State (Ohio) shot 52 percent from the field to shock eighth-ranked Lindsey Wilson College with a 70-66 win in Mid-South Conference play on Thursday at Frank and Janis Waller Gymnasium.
Tyler Morgan scored a game-high 20 points to give the Blue Raiders just their second loss of the season, both coming in conference play. Jeremy Bennington added 18 points on four 3-pointers.
Lindsey Wilson got 18 points from Daronte' Clark who hit four threes of his own, while Milton Watts also reached double figures with 14 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the free-throw line.
While Shawnee State looked like it couldn't miss at times, the Blue Raiders shot just 37.7 percent from the field. One silver lining was second-half shooting from three, hitting 8-of-19 shots after a 1-for-7 start in the opening half.
The battle on the glass was won by the Blue Raiders 36-31, while both teams turned the ball over 19 times.
Shawnee State simply wanted the win more over the first 10 minutes, building an 18-8 lead. Lindsey Wilson finally woke up and a tip in by Clark gave the Blue Raiders a 9-0 run to climb back within three at 18-15 with 8:04 left in the half.
Exactly a minute later Kimberland gave Lindsey Wilson its first lead at 19-18 on a coach-to-coast layup, but another run was in store for the Bears.
Using three first-half threes from Bennington, Shawnee State went back up by seven at halftime at 30-23. The Bears outshot the Blue Raiders in the half 46.2 to 34.6 percent as Bennington racked up 13 points.
Morgan opened the second half with a layup for the Bears to extend their lead to 34-23, the largest of the game at that point with 17:40 left to play.
As the Bears threatened to blow the game out up 11, Lindsey Wilson got just what it needed with back-to-back threes from Bridges and Cox to cut the lead to five with 13:06 on the clock. Shawnee State stopped the run with an alley-oop dunk on its next possession.
To help Lindsey Wilson get as close as it had been in a long time, Bridges came through again with a three from the corner deep into the shot clock. His ninth point of the game made the Bear lead just 42-38.
Over the next seven minutes the teams played even basketball with the Blue Raiders getting within two points multiple times, but never able to gain a lead with the Bears continuing to answer. Clark knocked down a three with 5:26 to play to make the Shawnee State lead 57-54.
The Clark show continued for the next two minutes as he tied the game at 57 on another three before the Bears went on a 5-0 run. Looking like Lindsey Wilson may be out of answers Clark stepped up again, hitting a three deep in the corner to make the score 62-60.
Morgan continued to play well down low offensively for the Bears as he took over to give his team a four-point lead and the ball with 1:44 left.
Lindsey Wilson fought back down the stretch to trail by just a single point at 66-65 after two free throws by Scott with 28.5 seconds on the clock. Bennington took the next inbounds pass, but before the Blue Raiders could foul, he was called for a travel, giving Lindsey Wilson the ball and chance to take the lead.
Clark took the pass in the corner and fired an early three that was off the mark, Morgan hauled in the rebound and made one free throw on the other end. Down by two, Lindsey Wilson turned the ball over in the paint and was forced to foul again.
Banks hit both of the free throws to put the Bears up by four before Watts was fouled on a shot and made the second free throw to get within three with 1.2 seconds remaining.
Morgan went to the line one final time and made his first shot to essentially end the game with a 70-66 win.
Lindsey Wilson returns to action at 3 p.m. CT on Saturday at Rio Grande (Ohio).
