Georgetown, KY – UPIKE men's basketball fell behind early to (17) Georgetown on Saturday afternoon and despite outscoring the Tigers in the second half, were defeated 78-58. The loss drops the Bears to 9-9 overall with a conference mark of 7-8.

Georgetown had an immaculate first half, building a 21 point lead before the halftime break shooting 57% in the first 20 minutes. UPIKE answered with a solid second half, outscoring the Tigers 39-38 but couldn't overcome the early deficit. The Bears shot just 22% in the first but recovered with a 41% clip in the second.

Atop the UPIKE box score was Christian Sweazie who dropped a season-high 20 points. The Sterling, VA native went 7-13 from the field, adding a trio of three pointers to go 3-7 from deep. Jamir Simpson scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds in 26 minutes of action.

Georgetown got started quickly off the tip as they built a 12 point lead in the first six minutes, hitting three triples to lead 16-4 inside of 15:00 left in the half. The Tigers stayed hot throughout the next series of possessions, adding a couple threes and limiting the Bears to just four field goals for the next ten minutes, with UPIKE's buckets coming from Korbin Spencer and Taevon Horton.

Sweazie was able to manage a few free throws down the stretch but the Bears fell victim to a Tiger's offense that was dialed in. At the halftime break UPIKE trailed 40-19.

In the first four minutes, the Tigers extended their lead to as much as 25 and led 52-27. With about 11:30 to play, Sweazie splashed threes on back to back possessions that dropped the Tiger lead to below 20 for just the second time in the half. The Bears kept the energy throughout but were matched by the Tigers down the stretch, coming as close to within 17 points and ultimately falling 79-58.

UPIKE men's basketball looks to recover on Thursday, February 4^th as they travel to Portsmouth, OH to take on 6^th ranked Shawnee State.