PIKEVILLE, Ky. -- For the first 25 minutes, it looked like UPIKE had its hands full on Sunday with Berkeley College, a team that had lost just three times since the start of the 2015-16 season.

However, Pikeville scored 20 unanswered points in the second half to pull away from the Knights and win its second straight game, 93-84.

That run came thanks in large part to the hot hand of Luke Layhew in the post, who scored eight of his 17 points in that time, including the last six. Layhew had his best night yet in a UPIKE uniform, going 8-10 from the floor and grabbing five rebounds – three offensive.

A vast majority of the rest of the Pikeville offense came from Jayvian Delacruz who had his fourth 30-point game of the year, while also grabbing six rebounds.

The first half was an exhibition of hard-fought, physical basketball with neither team gaining much of a lead over the other. Both teams shot 50 percent or better from the floor, but some early foul trouble for the Knights got UPIKE to the free-throw line frequently.

UPIKE shot 10 more free throws than Berkeley in the first half, but were only able to make seven of its 14 attempts. Because of that deficiency, UPIKE took just a four-point lead into halftime that could've been much bigger.

Berkeley used that renewed opportunity and delivered a swift punch to the gut to start the second half. The Knights came out on a 8-0 run in the first 90 seconds, and rode that momentum to a seven-point lead before UPIKE began its long run.

At the conclusion of that run, the Bears led by 13 and didn't let the Knights get within seven for the remainder of the game.

Xaviar Gaona contributed a lot to that second half resilience, scoring all nine of his points in the second half with four rebounds and two key blocks.

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UPIKE will have the majority of the week off before a three game in three day streak, starting at 7 p.m. Friday against the University of the Virgin Islands at UPIKE Gym.

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