Pikeville, KY – UPIKE men's basketball returned home on Thursday night to take on the guard heavy shooting attack of MSC newcomer Freed-Hardeman. The Lions had UPIKE's number from the beginning and buried the Bears 103-88.

One Bear who has been heating up lately is Juco transfer Taevon Horton who had another highlight performance on Thursday night with 27 points. Horton has made a name by being a go-to option in big moments this season and did the same against the Lions, piloting the Bears comeback effort Horton dropped a season-high seven three pointers and finished at 70% from beyond the arc.

Malcom Green was another critical piece to the Bears offense, weaving and finishing through contact to drop 20 points on the Lions. Korbin
Spencer finished with 17 points and reaffirmed his position as a consistently reliable scoring threat for Tigh Compton's squad. UPIKE played well despite the final result but the game changer for Freed-Hardeman was their ability to come up with bursts of scoring to quickly cushion their lead on the Bears.

The opening minutes of the half featured a barrage of threes from the Lions as they built their foundation on a 18 point lead in the first five minutes. The Bears spread the floor and kept the pace but fell victim to a team that was dialed in as Freed-Hardeman held a 20 point lead heading into the halftime break.

The Bears carried a more electric energy coming out of the locker room and dropped two quick threes to start the second half. The MSC battle was as expected, with the teams fighting for every positive possession with UPIKE beginning to find an offensive rhythm. The Bears had an impressive stretch of six buckets in eight possessions about four minutes into the half as they crept towards the Lions' lead. Freed-Hardeman stayed strong and managed to stay ahead by double-figures for the majority of the period, recording key buckets to keep the Bears comeback at bay. UPIKE finished out the game strong but fell to the Lions 103-86.

The Bears return to MSC action on Saturday, January 9^th against the Wildcats of Bethel. Tip-off from Appalachian Wireless Arena is set for 4PM.