Pikeville, KY – The University of Pikeville men's basketball team won a thrilling Mid-South Conference opener against Campbellsville University in overtime Thursday night at the Appalachian Wireless Arena, 92-87.

The Bears led big early on in the first half, but the Tigers would come back and hold a late 79-75 lead in the second half. UPIKE fought back and sent the game into overtime at 79-79. Despite Campbellsville's best efforts down the stretch, the Bears held on for the win in overtime.

UPIKE was led by Darius Love, who scored a career-high 29 points in the win. He shot 9-14 from the field. Jacob Brown (16), Korbin Spencer (14), and Maurice Dickson (11) also scored in double-digits. Spencer led the team with seven rebounds while Malik Malone and Christian Sweazie both had three assists in the win.

Early Lead
The game was tied at 10-10 nearly seven minutes into the contest, before the Bears used a huge 19-5 run to grab a 29-15 lead. Love had nine points during this stretch for UPIKE, including a three-pointer.

The Bears would lead by as many as 15 in the game, holding a 39-24 advantage with two minutes to play in the first half.

Clawing Back
The Tigers would head into the break on a 9-0 run after a trio of threes made it 39-33 at the break. Keaston Brown sunk two of the threes for Campbellsville.

Back and Forth
UPIKE would find their footing out of the locker room, stretching their lead back to 10 after an 8-4 flurry made it 47-37. Brown and Malone both had four points during the run.

However, the Tigers would take the lead with a 14-0 streak that made it 51-47 with 14:48 to play. Darius Harding had seven points for Campbellsville during this stretch.

Both teams would eventually find themselves tied up at 73-73 with 2:52 to play in the half. The Tigers would then use a free throw and a three to tie their largest lead of the game at 77-73. The lead would become 79-75 with just 1:44 to play after a put-back dunk from Malachi De Sousa.

UPIKE would come right back though, after a Spencer jumper and two clutch Dickson free throws tied the game at 79-79 with 33 seconds to play. The Bears got a stop on the defensive end but Spencer's three was off the mark and the game headed to overtime.

Overtime
The Bears jumped out to an 87-81 lead in OT after Love had four points, including a steal and dunk that ignited the crowd with 2:19 to play. UPIKE would lead by as many as seven in overtime and controlled the pace of the game.

The Tigers would cut the lead to four, but missed a few threes down the stretch that would have put some major pressure on UPIKE. The Bears would come away with the exciting 92-87 victory.

"I'm so proud of our guys for finding a way to win this game," said Head Coach Tigh Compton. "The MSC is always tough night in and night out. We played a great first 18 minutes in the first half. We put them on the free throw line down the stretch more than we would have liked, but found enough defensive stops to win."

Inside The Box Score
This is the first overtime win for the Bears since they beat University of the Cumberlands 93-88 in Williamsburg on Jan, 4, 2021. This is the first time they have beat Campbellsville in overtime since Feb. 23, 2019 when they beat the Tigers at home, 83-80.

What's Up Next
The Bears will be right back in action on Saturday afternoon at Appalachian Wireless Arena when they host the Georgetown College Tigers at 4:00 p.m. These two teams last met in the MSC Tournament Quarterfinals on Feb. 28, 2021 where Georgetown beat UPIKE, 76-74.