GEORGETOWN, Ky. -- The 10th-ranked University of Pikeville men's basketball team shot just 30.9 percent from the field, negating a good defensive effort, in a 64-45 loss at No. 2 Georgetown on Thursday.
UPIKE held the Tigers to nearly 20 points below their season average, but at the end of the day shots just weren't falling. The Bears went 17 of 55 from the field, 2 of 16 from 3 and 9 of 22 from the free-throw line.
Georgetown (20-1, 8-0 MSC) shot 44.3 percent from the field and was led by Troy Steward and Quan Poindexter with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Chris Coffey collected nine rebounds as GC won the battle of the boards 41-35.
Darrion Leslie tallied a game-high 14 points for the Bears (18-5, 4-4 MSC) and Michael Lewis added five points and 13 rebounds.
UPIKE finished with more turnovers at 16-13, leading to Georgetown posting a 14-6 advantage in points off mistakes.
HOW IT WENT DOWN
After scoring 17 points in the first 10 minutes to take a 17-11 lead on a layup by Edson Avila, Georgetown would go on to score just six more points the rest of the half. UPIKE took advantage of its defensive success by outscoring the Tigers 10-6 during that span to make it just a 23-21 game at the break.
In fact, Georgetown's last points of the half came at the 7:40 mark on a jumper by Jacob Conway to make it 23-15. UPIKE went on a 6-0 run from there, getting two free throws from Leslie and back-to-back buckets by Jordan Perry to help close the gap.
It was a low-scoring, evenly played half as Georgetown held just a 21-20 lead on the glass, outshot the Bears 32 to 29 percent and had two more turnovers at 9-7.
The evenness of the first half lasted for about eight minutes in the second, up until Leslie's 3-point play brought the Bears within five at 35-30. But for the next five minutes, Georgetown scored 12 straight points to push ahead 47-30 with 7:33 to play.
Georgetown added a 7-0 run two minutes later and it was suddenly a 21-point game after UPIKE was down by just five seven minutes earlier. The Tigers' lead grew to as many as 22 points the rest of the way at 59-37 on a free throw by Steward.
UP NEXT
UPIKE continues its road swing at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, traveling to Shawnee State in Portsmouth, Ohio.
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