PIKEVILLE, Ky. -- Desmond Medder and Trey Rakes each poured in 19 points to lift the University of Pikeville men's basketball team over Central Penn 79-59 on Monday night in the season opener at the East Ky. Expo Center.

The Knights (0-1) hung around early in the first half, trailing by just four at 10-6 four minutes in. But with defense as the catalyst, UPIKE (1-0) grabbed an 11-point lead on a Jordan Perry layup with 13:18 on the clock and never let the Knights trim it into single digits again.

Instead, the Bears built a lead as large as 21 points in the half on a short bucket by Richard Freeman as they went on to take a 43-26 lead into halftime.

UPIKE never truly blew the game open in the second half as a 23-point lead after a Rakes 3-pointer was as wide as the margin grew. Turnover problems of their own held the Bears back, but the 16 giveaways were nothing compared to the 29 turnovers by the Knights.

Add in Central Penn shooting just 37.5 percent from the field, and you can see how the lead was never in jeopardy, despite the Bears hitting at just 42.6 percent from the field themselves. UPIKE also shot 12 more free throws than the Knights, for a 21-13 lead in makes from the stripe.

Perry, a freshman, had a nice introduction to the home crowd with 13 points and Darrion Leslie had a complete game of four points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals.

The Bears tallied a 27-15 lead in points off turnovers, 38-32 in points in the paint and outscored the Central Penn bench 30-27.

UP NEXT

The Bears return to action at 8 p.m. ET on Friday against Bluefield (Va.) in the UPIKE Tip-Off Classic.

-UPIKE-