Whawnee State wins 2020-21 MSC Tournament with 7-54 victory over Thomas More - Mar 15, 2021
Top-seeded Shawnee State (Ohio) captured the 2020-21 MSC Men's Basketball Tournament title with a 70-54 victory over No. 3 seed Thomas More (Ky.) at Bowling Green High School Arena. The Bears (26-2) captured their first-ever MSC Tournament Title. State Farm Insurance of Bowling Green, D C Clement, agent, is sponsoring the 2021 Mid-South Conference Outstanding Player of the Tournament Award. Shawnee State's EJ Onu (6'11''-F) earned the award averaging 16.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 5.3 blocks per game in the tournament. James Jones (6'4''-F-97) led the way for the Bears with a team-high 19 points. Onu recorded a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Miles Thomas (6'3''-G) was also in double figures for the Bears with 14 points. Shawnee State got on the board first with an Issac Abergut (6'7''-PG) three. After a Ryan Batte (6'6''-C) bucket, the Bears scored the next eight points to increase their lead to 11-2. Thomas More (16-9) cut the deficit to 12-6 before Shawnee State scored the next five points to get the lead to double-digits with 12:11 to play in the half. The Saints would then go on to tie them game at 17 with 6:36 left in the half with an 11-0 run. With the game tied at 19, the Bears scored the next nine points to lead 28-19. Thomas More ended the half scoring six of the last eight points to cut the deficit to 30-25. The Bears were led by Miles Thomas in the first half who scored nine points. Shawnee State shot 37.9 percent from the field and 44.4 from beyond the arc in the first half. Batte led the way for the Saints with 12 points in the first 20 minutes. Shawnee State opened the second half scoring seven of the first nine points to lead 37-27. Thomas More got the Bears lead down to 41-31 before Shawnee State rattled off a 16-3 run to lead 57-34 with 8:49 to play. The Saints put together an 11-2 run to trim their deficit to 59-45 with 6:32 left in the game. Shawnee State remained in firm control for the rest of the game as they captured the tournament title with a 70-54 victory. Batte led Thomas More with a game-high 26 points. Reid Jolly was the other Saints player in double figures with 16 points. Shawnee State had already earned an automatic bid into the NAIA National Tournament by winning the MSC regular-season title. As the tournament runner-up, Thomas More has earned an automatic bid into the national tournament due to the conference receiving two automatic bids.
Courtesy of mid-southconference.org
MSC Tournament Final: Shawnee State - Thomas More 70-54 MSC Tournament Semifinals: Shawnee State - Martin Methodist 91-82 Thomas More - Georgetown 65-49
All-MSC Awards 2021 - Mar 15, 2021
Player of the Year: EJ Onu (6'11''-F) of Shawnee State Defensive Player of the Year: EJ Onu (6'11''-F) of Shawnee State Freshman of the Year: Derrin Boyd (6'2''-G) of Georgetown Coach of the Year: Delano Thomas of Shawnee State
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