PIKEVILLE, Ky. -- After a slow start out of the gate, the 12th-ranked University of Pikeville men's basketball team got things rolling offensively on its way to an 85-51 win over visiting Simmons on Thursday night.

Darrion Leslie led all scorers with 18 points while Jordan Perry and Richard Freeman chipped in with 10 points each, Leslie also paced the Bears with eight rebounds as they won the battle of the boards 46-36.

Jarvis Irby was the only Falcon (2-6) to score in double figures with 10 points as they shot just 32 percent from the field and 44.4 percent (8-18) from the free-throw line.

UPIKE (15-3) hit at 47.6 percent from the field, but also struggled from the stripe, hitting just 18 of 30 shots. The poor free-throw shooting and hitting just 7 of 24 3-pointers kept the Bears from even blowing the game wide open.

HOW IT WENT DOWN

Simmons led by as many as four points to start the contest, going up 13-9 on a Devrin Lewis layup with 12:34 left in the first half. But the slow start prompted a 10-2 run over the next few minutes to flip the script into a four-point lead for the Bears.

Over the final eight minutes of the half, UPIKE outscored Simmons 22-9. The lead grew as high as 17 points in the half twice, with the latest coming at 48-31 on a pair of Trey Rakes free throws just before halftime.

The Bears outshot the Falcons 50-40 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, but couldn't take advantage of going to the stripe 17 times by hitting just 10 free throws (58.8%). Nwosuh gave UPIKE a boost when the offense was stagnant by hitting three 3-pointers off the bench.

Simmons limited its turnovers in the second half, but fell apart from the field, hitting just 8 of 31 shots, including a 1-of-12 showing from long distance. The Bears took advantage, getting their lead to 30 points in the first six minutes on a 3-point play by Desmond Medder.

Things stayed pretty even from there as UPIKE only outscored Simmons 16-12 over the final 8:47. The largest gap was reached with 40 seconds left when two makes from the stripe by Freeman made it 83-47.

BEAR STANDOUTS

Darrion Leslie: 18 pts, 8 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk

Richard Freeman: 10 pts, 6 reb, 1 stl

Jordan Perry: 10 pts, 2 reb, 1 stl

Clint Nwosuh: 9 pts, 4 ast

UP NEXT

The Bears host Campbellsville at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday in the East Ky. Expo Center.

-UPIKE-