Pikeville, KY – UPIKE men's basketball dominated Ohio Valley Saturday afternoon to win their seventh straight game by a final score of 87-58.
Darius Love powered the Bears offense in a career-high 30 point showing that included going a perfect 4-4 from beyond the arc.
Love notched his previous career-high last week in the Bears' win over Campbellsville, scoring 29-points but bested that mark on Saturday. The Houston, TX native shot 11-15 from the field in 29 minutes of action, adding four rebounds and a pair of assists.
Korbin Spencer finished in double-digits for the fifth time this season with 12 points on 5-9 shooting from the field and led the Bears with six rebounds and six assists. Forward
Jacob Brown also finished with 12 points on 5-8 shooting from the field and hit 2-3 free throws.
The Bears edged the Fighting Scots in rebounding 34 to 33 while dominating the assists column with 13 to their five. UPIKE's defense held OVU to just 31.8% shooting from the field and 25.9% from three while the Bears shot 53% in the contest.
Ohio Valley tied the game twice in the entire contest, with both instances coming within the first two and a half minutes. Both teams opened the game with a three-pointer, matching on the next two possessions to lock at 5 with 18:16 to go. Over the next four minutes, the Bears launched a 15-8 run to lead by seven after scores from
Taevon Horton, Brown, and Spencer. OVU fought back and brought the game to within four several times but UPIKE extended the lead to as much as 12 just inside the 10-minute mark.
Love dominated the second half, scoring 19 of his 30 points in the 20-minute span which included back-to-back threes assisted by Spencer at around 16:00. The Bears' lead never dropped below 10 and extended to as much as 29 points when
Christian Sweazie drilled a trey that made it 78-49 UPIKE with 5:34 to go.
The final two minutes saw the lead grow to 32 after a statement scoop and score dunk by
Maurice Dickson with 1:20 to go.
UPIKE men's basketball looks to keep the win streak alive as they step back into conference play for a Thursday, December 2nd matchup at Life University.
