Box Score

PORTSMOUTH, Ohio – Campbellsville and Shawnee State came into tonight's matchup with a 5-5 series record, but the Tigers were ousted by the Bears, 77-61.

 

Campbellsville could not recover from an early 16-point lead and the Tigers struggled in the paint as SSU finished with 24 points in the paint compared to CU's 14.

 

"We did not come ready to play tonight," said CU Head Coach Keith Adkins. "It was an overall let-down from the get-go and we just did not have any rhythm from the start."

 

Campbellsville and Shawnee State were neck-and-neck to begin tonight's contest but Shawnee jumped to a 30-18 lead after Trevor Banks hit back-to-back 3-pointers and the Bears never looked back.

 

Banks' 3-pointers jump-started a 14-0 State run in a matter of four minutes.

 

A couple of technical foul shots by Jordan Myers started a little run for the Tigers. Elliott Young and Myers hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the lead to eight points and A'Darius Pegues used a drop-step slam dunk over two State defenders. But Campbellsville could not get a stop on the defensive end and the points-in-the-paint stat continued to go Shawnee's way.

 

"We didn't get many points in the paint because our drives were sporadic and out of control," said Adkins. "We did not hit the boards tonight either and that showed by them picking up numerous offensive rebounds."

 

Both teams struggled down the first-half stretch with CU not recording a shot attempt after the Pegues dunk at the 2:49 mark. And Shawnee did not record a shot in the final 4:35 in the first half.

 

Myers led Campbellsville, as he was 4-for-7 from the field and 2-for-5 from 3-point land for 12 points. But CU went into the half trailing 42-29.

 

Coming out of the break, both teams could not find the center of the cylinder. Campbellsville went eight-plus minutes without a field goal and Shawnee went 10-plus.

 

But Darius Clement ended the drought for CU as the junior from Bowling Green, Ky. hit a 3-pointer with 14:56 in the second half and cut the lead to 10, 43-33.

 

But once Campbellsville started to find the net so did Shawnee State. The Bears came down and Andrew Devlin slammed one home to end the drought for SSU. But the Bears weren't done as they came down and hit a 3-point basket at the 13:27 mark.

 

Although Campbellsville whittled the lead to eight points, the dagger for CU came at the 11:35 mark as Andrew Bendolph hit an and-one basket on a foul by Quin Richardson, giving SSU a 14-point lead.

 

With the made free-throw, Shawnee moved to 14-for-17 from the charity stripe and finished with 24-31 (77.4 percent) from the line; which is above its season average of 67.2 percent. Campbellsville only shot 16-for-26 (61.5 percent) from the free throw line.

 

Banks hit another 3-point basket to give the Bears a 15-point lead but Campbellsville's DeMarcus Page came right down and hit a layup. It seemed to give the CU bench a little life but it was quickly sucked out as Bendolph hit another 3 and killed any momentum the Tigers were looking for.

 

Shawnee also recorded seven steals compared to CU's three. The Tigers struggled to get any rhythm in their game as each time Campbellsville got any mojo the Bears stole it back.

 

"Defensively it was a let-down. That is what kick-starts us in many of our games and we played lazy tonight. We played selfishly on the offensive side and did not compete like we needed too. Give them credit as they shut down Eric (Gaines) on the offensive side and came in with a good game plan. We struggled as whole and it was not just one person's fault."

 

Gaines, who was one rebound shy of a double-double last Saturday against University of the Cumberlands (19 and 9), struggled tonight. Campbellsville's leading scorer at 15.7 points per game was held to only five points on 1-for-6 shooting and 3-for-4 from the free throw line. He eventually fouled out at the :16.6 mark in the second half.

 

Although Myers had 12 first-half points, he was limited in the second half to two points, playing four minutes. He received a cut above the eye brow and did not return. He was still the leading scorer for CU with 14. Miles Rice also scored in double figures as he pitched in 12 points on 3-for-11 shooting from the field and 4-for-6 from the free throw line.

 

The Tigers will now travel just 30-plus miles to Rio Grande, Ohio for another MSC matchup with University of Rio Grande on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. You can follow the action live on WLCUFM.com and WLCU 88.7 FM as Matt Payton will bring you play-by-play action.

 

"Its another big game for us, no matter if it's a short turnaround or not. Everyone is coming off of short rest and we can either show up and play CU Tiger Basketball or play lazy and selfish. It's a mentality that starts from the beginning of the game."

 

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