ROME, Ga. – On the opening weekend of the 2019-2020 men's basketball season, the Shorter Hawks split a pair of neutral-site contests at the GSC/SIAC Challenge in Mobile, Alabama. The weekend was capped with a thrilling buzzer-beater victory over Spring Hill College.
 
Friday Night
On Friday night, the Hawks (0-1, 0-0 GSC) dropped their season opener to Lane College by a score of 73-65. Bryan Polanco led the way for Shorter with a 14 point, 11 rebound double-double to open the season.  Frenki Lilaj led the team with a 15 point scoring effort and Ricky Knight Jr. added a 10 point performance as well.

In a constant back-and-forth contest, the score was tied or had a lead change thirteen times and the game was close from start to finish. With 6:38 left to play, Lilaj hit a pair of free throws to give Shorter a five-point lead; their largest of the evening. Lane responded with an 8-0 run over the next minute and a half to regain the lead.  From there on our, the Dragons never coughed up the lead, holding on for the 73-65 victory.
 
Saturday Night
Avenging their loss from Friday night, Shorter (1-1, 0-0 GSC)  finished the opening weekend with some late-game heroics from Jay Shropshire. The team evened their record with a 87-86 victory over Spring Hill College.
 
Once again, Polanco led the way for the Hawks with 30 points and eight rebounds, playing all 40 minutes. In the contest, Polanco chipped in a team-high five assists and three steals.
 
Keeving Etienne played a crucial part in the Hawks success, finishing with six point, six rebounds, three assists, and four blocked shots. Etienne's four blocks were the best single-game total from any Shorter player since Kordario Flemming swatted five shots against Valdosta State on Jan. 29, 2015.
 
Going into halftime, the Hawks trailed 46-43 and they had to continue to play from behind after the break. Down nine with less than five and a half minutes to play, the Hawks showed resilience and continued to claw their way back to a hard-fought victory.
 
Spring Hill hit the front end of a one-and-one with ten seconds to play to extend their lead to two. The second free throw was missed and rebounded by Polanco. After the board, Polanco dished to Joseph Russell who found Shropshire on the break. From the right wing, Shropshire buried the game-winning three with less than three seconds remaining on the clock.

Up Next:
On Wednesday, Shorter will travel to Carson-Newman University for a matchup on the road. Tipoff In Jefferson City, Tennessee is scheduled for 7:00 p.m..