Pikeville, KY – UPIKE men's basketball continued their conference stretch Saturday afternoon, falling just short against a talented (1) Georgetown team in another high intensity MSC battle. The two heavyweights duked it out on the hardwood for 40 minutes, as the Tigers took the 90-79 victory.
The loss drops the Bears to 2-3 on the season with a conference mark of 1-3 while the Tigers improve to 5-1 (2-1 MSC).
Both teams shot efficiently from the floor in the contest with UPIKE hitting a 51% clip on 32-62 while the Tigers went 34-64 for 53%. A key contribution for the Tiger's win came from the free throw line where the team hit 12 from the charity stripe in the second half alone, going 13-14 overall. The Bears went 9-15 from the line, finishing at 60%.
Korbin Spencer piloted the scoring effort against the Tigers, notching a season high 17 points. The sophomore went 7-12 from the floor and shot 75% from beyond the arc. Spencer also managed six rebounds and a pair of assists.
Malcolm Green carried on his five-game double-digit scoring streak with a 16-point performance that included four rebounds.
Jacob Brown, who has been lights out for the Bears in the last few contests, finished with 15 points on 6-9 from the field including a pair of threes.
UPIKE played a lot of the first half on the heels of Georgetown, fighting to stay within two possessions of a Tigers team that was hot from deep. The opening five minutes were closely contested with UPIKE tying the game at the 14:40 mark. Georgetown picked up the pace heading into the back end of the first period though, stringing together a run that saw them extend their lead to nine.
Spencer took advantage of defensive mismatches and took over the scoring effort for UPIKE in the final six minutes. The Sandy Hook, KY native splashed several shots and with 0:40 until halftime drilled a three pointer that gave the Bears a 37-36 lead. GC would hit another jumper on their final possession and lead by one as the teams headed to the locker room.
The Bears had the hot hand straight out of the break as
Taevon Horton, Spencer, and Brown all connected for threes, but Georgetown would respond in the following minutes as they pushed ahead by 12 before the first media timeout. The Tigers remained ahead for the remainder of the period, with UPIKE coming within one possession via a pair of free throws from Green with 4:49 left to go to make it 76-74. Georgetown held out, continuing a solid offensive performance, finalizing the 90-79 victory.
UPIKE will step out of conference play for their next matchup against Campbellsville-Harrodsburg on Monday, December 14
th. The Bears will tip-off from Appalachian Wireless Arena at 7 PM.
