Men's Hoops Cruises to MSC Final; Secures Auto Bid to NAIA Tourney

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Just more than a week ago, the Georgetown College men's basketball team faced the Shawnee State University Bears and suffered a Senior Day defeat. On Sunday, the Tigers exacted their revenge and secured their spot on the dance card for the NAIA Tournament.

Georgetown (24-7) was on fire from beyond the arc, connecting on better than half of their attempts from long range, as they controlled the game all night against Shawnee State (18-14) on their way to the 89-67 victory.

Georgetown opened the game on an 11-0 run. Drew Lamont, Jayrese Williams, and Derrin Boyd each buried a triple and the Tigers did not allow the Bears to score for the first two and a half minutes of play. Shawnee State clawed back to take the lead at 27-25 with 7:26 to play in the opening stanza, but Georgetown immediately went on a 15-0 run and held the Bears off the board for more than six minutes, and at the intermission, the Tigers led 45-29.

SSU began the second half with seven straight points to trim the margin to nine, and with the gap at 10 points with 16:07 to play Georgetown put together an 11-0 run that pushed the Tigers' lead to 61-40. The Bears made one final run - a 9-0 run that pulled the Bears within 12 - but runs of 8-1, and 10-0 helped the Tigers stretch their lead to as many as 24 points, and Georgetown took the win 89-67.

Boyd finished the game with 25 points and he was 5-for-7 from beyond the arc. Williams added 23 in the game, Lamont netted 16, and Kyran Jones posted a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Boyd and Jaquay Wales each dished up seven assists in the game as well.

The Tigers were a blistering 33-for-61 (54.1%) from the floor, and they were even better - 15-for-27 (55.6%) from outside. The Tigers did not shoot many free throws in the game, but they were 8-for-11 (72.7%) from the charity stripe. Georgetown also held a 38-32 advantage on the glass in the contest.

The win secures the Tigers the MSC's second automatic bid to the NAIA National Championship. The Tigers will advance to the NAIA tournament for the 41st time, and for the 31st year in a row. The last time the Tigers did not make the NAIA Championship was in 1991. The Tigers will be in search of their fourth NAIA title when the tournament begins.

Up first, though, is a date with No. 5 Thomas More University (27-3) on Monday night for the MSC title. The teams met twice in the regular season, with TMU winning both games. The game is slated to tip-off at 9 p.m. Eastern.