MOBILE, Ala. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) men's basketball team opened 2020 with a thrilling 118-107 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) victory over the Paine College Lions in overtime on Saturday afternoon at the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center.
The Lions (1-10, 1-5 SIAC East) trailed SHC by 11 points at 63-62 with 16 minutes left to play, but clawed back to within 71-70 just 6 minutes later. Paine took its first lead of the second half off a layup by Emeshaun Nelms with 7:27 on the clock and built out as much as an 83-78 advantage with 5 minutes to play.
Senior forward
Chase Shellman of Louisville, Ky. then went back to work on the inside where he had controlled the game's first 24 minutes of play as the Badgers fought back to claim an 84-83 lead with 3 minutes to go capped by two free throws from junior guard
Ron Rice out of Harlem, N.Y.
From there, the teams would trade the lead on several trips down the court, but the Lions maintained a 95-92 lead following two successful free throws at the 9-second mark. Senior guard
Gresyn Rogers of Casa Grande, Ariz. then provided the heroics draining a game tying 3-pointer from the left side with 3 seconds showing to send the game into overtime.
In overtime, the Badgers were able to preserve a 1- to 3-point lead for the first three minutes, but pulled away with a 6-point run in the fourth minute and iced the outcome with two game-ending fast-break thunder dunks by Rogers and Rice in the final 12 seconds.
Shellman dominated the paint, scoring a team season-high 40 points with 13 rebounds and 7 assists. He also picked up a blocked shot while shooting 20-of-30 from the field. Senior guard
Dwight Harris of Americus, Ga. added 19 points as did Rice. Sophomore shooting guard
Christian Brandt found the net with four 3-pointers to join Rogers in tallying 16 points on the night.
As a team, SHC shot a healthy 53.6% (45-84) from the field and 45% (9-20) from 3-point range. The Badgers lost an acceptable 10 turnovers against 4 steals by the Lions and controlled the boards to the tune of a 39-35 advantage in rebounding. SHC outscored the Lions 62-48 in the paint, 24-9 in points off turnovers and 20-8 in second chance points. Spring Hill also made 79.2% (19-24) of their free throw attempts, including 11-of-12 in overtime.
Paine's Jamal Hinkle came off the bench to score a team-high 28 points as four of the visitors from Augusta, Ga. reached double-digits in scoring. The Lions shot an impressive 59.5% (44-74) overall and tossed in 34.8% (8-23) from 3-point distance while committing 15 turnovers versus 7 steals by the Badgers. Paine completed 64.7% (11-17) of their free throw attempts.
The Badgers (3-10, 2-3 SIAC West) next host the Benedict College (BC) Tigers (5-8, 2-4 SIAC East) in the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center on Monday night at 7:30 p.m.
