PIKEVILLE, Ky. – Fans had to wait through three other games as well as a delay before the day's games even began, but went home happy as UPIKE men's basketball put on a show in downing Ohio-Chillicothe 98-48 on Saturday.

Pikeville leapt out to a big early lead thanks to a barrage of three-pointers. UPIKE made 15 throughout the game, but a majority of those came from the hands of Xaviar Gaona and Josh Green. The two combined to hit 12 of those 15, eight of which came from Gaona which doubled his season-high from last year.

Gaona's 26 points led all scorers and marked a new career high for the senior out of Texas. Three of those long-distance shots came within the first four minutes to give Pikeville a near-instantaneous double-digit lead.

From there, the Bears never looked back, eventually heading into halftime with a 26-point lead, capped by a three from Josh Green.

The NCAA D-I transfer showed off his shooting ability in his UPIKE debut, hitting five of six shot attempts, including four of five from distance to score 14 points.

Luke Layhew was Pikeville's only other double-digit scorer with a relatively quiet game by his standards with 10 points and seven rebounds. He wasn't the only person to near a double-double though as Fode Camara scored eight points and grabbed nine boards in his UPIKE debut.

UPIKE's three freshman all got extended time in the second half as well with each showing off a bit of their skills as well.

JJ Ramey scored nine points with the highlight of the night, a monsterous poster dunk over a Chillicothe defender. Chaz Hinds scored six points with three rebounds and showed off his passing ability with two assists. Korbin Spencer has the least time of the three, but still managed to score five points and grab two boards in just eight minutes.

UP NEXT

Pikeville rounds out the weekend with a difficult matchup against a high-octane Florida National team on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. in UPIKE Gym.

-UPIKE-