Box Score

PIKEVILLE, Ky. – Chris Cantino has never seen a rebound he doesn't like and that was never more evident than Monday night, tallying 26 points and 21 rebounds to help No. 4 Pikeville to an 84-78 win against Shawnee State (Ohio) at the East Ky. Exposition Center.

Shawnee State may be at the bottom of the Mid-South Conference standings with a 2-7 league record (8-12 overall), but it gave UPIKE all it wanted, trimming a 16-point second-half deficit to just four in the final minute.

The game was a makeup after being postponed on Saturday due to severe weather. It looked like both team's had trouble adjusting to the abnormal Monday night NAIA contest.

Luckily for Pikeville (17-2, 8-1 MSC), Cantino showed up like never before this season and had help from Bruce Reed with 18 points, Kenny Manigault with 12 and Elisha Justice added a full line of 11 points, eight rebounds, six assists, a block and a steal.

Trevor Banks led Shawnee State with a game-high 27 points, including a 3-for-4 performance from behind the arc and perfect 6-of-6 shooting at the free-throw line. Mark Bryant and Sean Elliott joined him in double figures with 16 and 14 points, respectively.


Pikeville made up for a 34 percent shooting night from the field and six-percent mark from three by outrebounding Shawnee State 55-34, including a 21-4 lead on the offensive glass. It needed all of them as the Bears from Portsmouth, Ohio shot 43 percent and hit seven 3-pointers.

After eight minutes in the first half, UPIKE was shooting just 12 percent from the field and Shawnee State was slightly better at 20.Trailing 7-6 after two Dante Dunston free throws, Pikeville went on top 9-7 with a 3-point play from Keala King but couldn't pull away.

The score was tied briefly at 14-14, but Justice zigzagged through the paint for a layup to regain a two-point advantage. Shawnee State fought back up by one when Elliott was fouled behind the arc and made all three free throws.

A 4-0 run from Shawnee State gave it its largest lead yet at 24-21, but just like Justice before, Manigault was there for a coast-to-coast layup to put a stop to it. Pikeville went on to score the next seven points as a dunk from Manigault made it 28-24.

Shawnee State scored two more points in the next four minutes as Pikeville built a 10-point lead on Manigault's layup at the rim after a highlight-reel pass from Justice in the paint. Devon Carter hit a free-throw line jumper with 30 seconds left, but UPIKE still went into the break with a double-digit, 39-29 lead.

UPIKE quickly built a 16-point advantage on a layup by Reed to make it 46-30 in the second half, but Shawnee State scored the next six points to make it a 10-point game with 14 minutes to play.

Two minutes later the lead was cut to six as Elliott and Banks knocked down back-to-back buckets.

Behind the play of Cantino, the Bears responded and found themselves back up by 14 after the big man hit two free throws with 8:55 on the clock. But just like before, Shawnee State kept hanging around, trimming the deficit back to six with 1:37 to go at 75-69.

Then Cantino had what was possible his best sequence of the game due to the timing, rebounding his shot that was blocked and going back up to finish a 3-point play and make it a 78-69 UPIKE lead.

There was a brief scare as Manigault missed two free throws and Banks hit a three to get within four, but Pikeville went 4-of-6 from the line, including a Cantino offensive rebound, in the final seconds and Shawnee State missed its final 3-point attempt.  

It's a short break for UPIKE as it returns to action at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, hosting Bluefield (Va.).