LEBANON, Tenn.--Cumberland men’s basketball picked up their first win of the season over Shawnee State inside the Dallas Floyd Phoenix Arena Thursday evening, 68-57.

Cumberland (1-2, 1-1 MSC) had four starters get into double-digit points as Aaron Ridley led the way in his season debut tonight. Ridley posted 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting and added six rebounds and three steals. Senior Tavon King picked up 17 points for the third-straight outing.

TJ Stargell scored 14 points while adding five rebounds and four assists. Tyler Byrd made his much-anticipated debut for the Phoenix scoring the game’s first five points and finished with 10 points and four rebounds. Junior Isaac Stephens finished with just four points, but had 10 boards and did an excellent job defensively matched up with Shawnee State big man EJ Onu.

Cumberland shot 37.7% from the field and 41.2% from three, but one of the big differences in the game was the turnover battle. Cumberland turned the ball over just nine times while forcing Shawnee State into 19 errors.

Shawnee State (4-2, 1-1 MSC) struggled from the field and beyond the arc in tonight’s game. The Bears entered the second half with just 16 points. The Bears did manage to outrebound Cumberland 46-34 and went a perfect 12-12 from the free-throw line.

Kolbie Johnson and James Jones had a team-high 12 points for Shawnee State while Bears big man EJ Onu had 10 points, 10 rebounds, and six blocks.

Tyler Byrd scored the game’s first five points on the opening possessions for Cumberland. Shawnee State their way to an 8-0 run giving them their only lead of the game.

For the next 10 minutes of game time, Cumberland’s defense smothered the Bears forcing five turnovers en route to a 17-0 run to get up 24-8 with six minutes left in the first. SSU would manage to get themselves into striking distance at halftime as CU went on a cold drought only scoring four more points, 28-16 at the intermission.

Out of the half, Cumberland again locked down Shawnee State holding them scoreless for the first five minutes of the half while accumulating a 10-0 run, 38-16. Cumberland would never look back from the point holding a 20-point lead for the majority of the game.

Shawnee State tried to make it interesting in the last three minutes of the game when they finally hit some three-pointers and forced CU into several mistakes, but the comeback opportunity started too late and Cumberland picked their first win of the season, 68-57.

Cumberland is set to take on Pikeville on Saturday at the Dallas Floyd Phoenix Arena at 1 p.m.