Portsmouth, Ohio - UPIKE was bested by Shawnee State 79-69 in the Battle of the Bears Saturday afternoon, snapping a three-game win streak. 

UPIKE got off to a slow start, going scoreless over the first 5:39. During that scoring drought, Shawnee jumped out to a 9-0 lead. Led by nine points by Teddy Parham Jr., UPIKE got right back in it and cut the Shawnee lead to 14-12. Mark Vance Jr. tied the game with a layup shortly after. After UPIKE tied the game, Shawnee went on a 10-0 run. UPIKE responded by going on a 11-3 run late in the half to cut the SSU lead to two. Shawnee State closed out the half on a 13-2 run and UPIKE trailed 40-27 at halftime.

Shawnee led by 7-11 points for the first twelve minutes of the second half until UPIKE went on a 10-4 run to cut the lead to 65-61. After cutting the lead to four, Shawnee went on an 8-2 run to put SSU up 73-63 with 2:13 left. UPIKE was unable to overcome the late SSU run and Shawnee took this one 79-69. Teddy Parham Jr. dropped 18 points in the second half, followed by Keian Worrix with eight points and two assists. 

Teddy Parham Jr. scored a game-high 29 points, his second consecutive game with 20+ points. Freshman Keian Worrix had 13 points and four assists. Korbin Spencer had 11 points and led UPIKE with three steals. Mark Vance Jr. led UPIKE in rebounds with six, followed by Devin Collins who grabbed five rebounds. 

Following Saturday afternoon's loss to SSU, UPIKE's record slips to 14-10 (10-8 MSC). Next up for UPIKE is a Thursday evening bout with the Lindsey Wilson Blue Raiders at the UPIKE Gym. 

#BearNation