SALEM, WV - An early first-half lead would fizzle-away for the Salem International University men's basketball team against Nyack College on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 21). A game-high 26 points from Nyack's Shawn Witherspoon paced the Warriors past the Tigers 87-74 in NCAA Division II men's basketball action.

Freshman Jarius Farrow's 16 points lead three other SIU players who finished in double-digits. Junior Ignacio Rodriguez tallied 14 points for the Tigers, while seniors Dominique Robinson and Victor Blakey each added 12 points. SIU will head to Alderson Broaddus University on Wednesday night (Jan. 25) for a 7 p.m. tip-off against the Battlers.

After seeing the Warriors take a 4-2 lead after a jumper by Imran Ritchie, freshman Josh Carpenter evened the game with 17:32 left in the opening stanza. Rodriguez would take-over offensively for the Tigers as he drained back-to-back three's to put his team on top 10-9 with 15:17 remaining. A three-pointer from junior Jordan Robinson gave the Tigers their biggest lead of the half (16-11).

The Warriors, down but not out, would start a run with 5:29 remaining in the half with a three-pointer from Robert Tyler that knotted the contest 27-27. Nyack closed the first-half on a 13-4 run to up its lead to 40-31 after 20-minutes of action. Nyack connected on 8-of-15 three-point attempts in the half, while going 13-of-28 from the floor. SIU shot 10-of-26 from the floor and 5-of-13 from downtown, while both teams went 6-of-6 at the free-throw line.

The second-half would feature far-less three-point attempts from Nyack, who attempted just six, going 3-of-6 from downtown. The Warriors would get their chances at the free-throw line, going 20-of-24 in the second-half, while the Tigers went 12-of-17 from the charity stripe. Witherspoon would be the most frequent visitor for Nyack at the line, going 11-of-12 and recording 19 of his 26 points in the half.

Farrow and Blakey paced SIU in the second-half as they looked to battle back in the contest. Farrow scored 12 of his 16 points in 14-minutes of action for the Tigers, going 4-of-8 from the floor and 3-of-6 at the free-throw line. Blakey added 10 points for SIU, going a perfect 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. The Tigers did force the Warriors into eight second-half turnovers, but would only tally eight points on the miscues. SIU's bench out-scored Nyack's in the final 20-minutes of action 20-9, but the first-half deficit would be too-much to overcome as the Warriors claimed the 87-74 victory.

Nyack, led Witherspoon's 26 points had five players score double-digits with Tyler tallying 21, Grant Goode (16), Jaron Smith (12), and Ritchie (10). Blakey dished-out a game-high six helpers for SIU, while Robinson recorded a game-high four blocks for the Tigers.

SIU finished the contest 24-of-62 from the floor, 8-of-25 from downtown, and 18-of-23 from the free-throw line. Nyack finished 25-of-59 from the floor, 11-of-21 from three-point range, and 26-30 from the charity stripe. The Warriors held a slight advantage in the rebound category (28-23), while both teams scored 28 points inside the paint. The contest featured six lead changes, saw the score knotted five times and both teams combine to turn the ball over 29 times.