Box Score

Photo by Dalton Stevens

PIKEVILLE, Ky. – A battle for Mid-South Conference supremacy turned into a one-sided rout as the fourth ranked University of Pikeville men's basketball team erupted past No. 20 Rio Grande (Ohio) 96-78 on Thursday at the East Ky. Expo Center.

The Bears and RedStorm came into the matchup with identical 6-1 records in MSC play, leaving the winner to take over sole possession of first place in the league standings. Just over 15 minutes in UPIKE led 30-29, but a 14-5 Bear run over the next three minutes gave them a double-digit lead that only grew from there.

Behind 50-percent shooting from the field as a team, Pikeville was led by Keala King with a game-high 22 points, while Elisha Justice added 20 points with the help of two 3-pointers. Chris Cantino tallied a double-double of 11 points and a game-best 12 rebounds and Bruce Reed finished with 10 points, five rebounds, five blocks and two assists.

Bilal Young and Ricky Tisdale led Rio Grande with 16 points each, while Josh Reagan added 13 points and five rebounds despite fouling out and playing just 22 minutes.

The RedStorm were quieted from the field, shooting 36.7 percent and 28.6 percent from long range. Both team's shot a ton of free throws with Rio Grande hitting 28-of-40 and UPIKE connecting on 24-of-37.

Pikeville controlled the glass 46-36 and outscored the RedStorm 42-32 in the paint. Rio Grande struggled to hold on to the ball, giving it up 20 times with just six assists to help UPIKE cruise to the 18-point win.

Justice stole an inbounds pass and layed it in just before the first-half buzzer to increase the UPIKE lead to 12 at 48-36. The start of the second half wasn't kind to Rio Grande either as the Bears scored the first seven points to lead by 19 with 16:24 to play.

Leading 58-39 after a 3-point play by Cantino, UPIKE went on to outscore the RedStorm 19-7 over a six-minute span that gave the Bears their largest lead of the game at 31 points after a dunk by Kenny Manigault that he caught off a backboard pass from King.

Pikeville benched its starters over the last seven minutes as the reserves kept the lead in the 20's for nearly the rest of regulation. Rio Grande whittled the deficit down to 19 on the final basket of the game by Kyle Rollins with 32 seconds left.   

UPIKE is back in action at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, hosting Shawnee State (Ohio) at the East Ky. Expo Center.