WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. – UPIKE men's basketball was unable to snap its losing skid on Thursday, dropping a tough road contest to No. 16 Cumberlands, 71-62.

The Bears started out strong and held the lead for a majority of the game's first ten minutes.

Jordan Perry and Luke Layhew led Pikeville in the early going and were two of the game's key factors. Perry ended up with a team-high 18 points with perfect 4-4 3-point shooting, while Layhew added 11 points and seven rebounds.

Once Cumberlands finally caught up to UPIKE the lead was changing hands nearly every possession for a time. There were five lead changes in just over a minute at one point.

The Patriots went on a 7-0 run after that time to get its largest lead to that time of six points and went into halftime with that same margin. UC's Caleb Taylor had a big hand in getting the lead back, scoring 11 of his 13 points in the first half.

In the second half however, Cumberlands' Tevin Olison took over with 14 points after halftime. The Patriots opened the second half on a 9-3 run to balloon its lead to double-digits.

Pikeville was routinely able to string stops together but UC's size frustrated the shorthanded Bear offense and also forced 17 turnovers in the game.

The Bears made one final run with three minutes left and got the lead to single digits, but Cumberlands hit enough free throws to keep UPIKE at bay.

UP NEXT

Pikeville has a chance at a non-conference tune up on Saturday when they take on Carver College at 2 p.m. at Appalachian Wireless Arena.

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