Alexandria, La. - Competing in the NAIA National Tournament First Round the UPIKE Bears were able to beat the Foresters of Huntington University 71-66. The Bears entered the National Tournament as a 13 seed while the Foresters were a 4 seed.
The Bears would fall behind 0-2 on a layup by Huntington's Ben Humrichous shortly after the opening tip. Devin Collins would tie the game at two with a midrange jumper. On the following possession Keian Worrix would find Korbin Spencer for a jumper to put the Bears ahead 4-2. The Foresters would tie the game at four then Teddy Parham Jr. would find Devin Collins for a three in the right corner. Huntington would counter with a 9-0 run to take a 7-13 lead. A pair of Teddy Parham Jr. free throws would pull the Bears within four at 9-13. UPIKE would outscore Huntington 7-5 over the next four minutes of playing time to pull within two on a Jacob Brown layup and make the score 16-18. The Bears would trail the Foresters 19-24 going into the final four minutes of the half when Keian Worrix would get a steal and find Korbin Spencer on the other end for a layup. A free throw and layup by Worrix would tie the game at 24. Huntington would counter with a 6-0 run to lead the Bears by a score of 24-30. Devin Collins would hit another three pointer to bring the score to 27-30 with 46 seconds to go in the half. Following a free throw by the Foresters Keian Worrix would knock down a freebie of his own to make it 28-31 at the half.
Teddy Parham Jr. opened the second half with a strong drive to the rim for two to pull the bears within one. Huntington would get a layup but then Korbin Spencer would find Collins for his third three of the ball game to tie the game at 33. Over the next four minutes Huntington would counter with a 12-5 run to take the lead. Trailing 37-45 Korbin Spencer would find Devin Collins in transition for a layup to pull the bears within six. The Bears would trail 41-48 with 12:30 minutes to play when Teddy Parham Jr. would make a layup followed by a pair of free throws to pull the Bears within three. Huntington followed up Parham's run with one of their own to lead the Bears 48-53.
Freshman Keynan Cutlip would hit a pull up jumper from the left wing to pull UPIKE within three at 50-53. The Bears would trail 52-56 with nine minutes to go when Teddy Parham Jr. would find Bradley Bunch for a layup. Following a Huntington miss Bunch would drive into the lane for two more points to tie the game at 56. Keian Worrix would give UPIKE the lead at 58-56 on an acrobatic layup with 7:15 to play. Huntington would answer back with a three pointer to lead 58-59. Following a Huntington timeout Teddy Parham Jr. would find Mark Vance under the basket for two to put the Bears back in the lead at 60-59. Korbin Spencer would then drive into the lane and get the defender off of his feet with a pump fake to put UPIKE ahead 62-59. Huntington would answer with a five to two run to tie the game at 64. Teddy Parham Jr. would then get back to back layups to give the Bears a 68-64 edge. The final two minutes of play became a battle of who could make more free throws. The Bears would sink three of their final four attempts at the line to ice the game and emerge with a 71-66 win.
The Bears were led in scoring by Teddy Parham Jr. with 19 points. Korbin Spencer and Devin Collins would both record 13 points for the Bears. Bradley Bunch controlled the glass with 10 rebounds followed by Jacob Brown and Korbin Spencer with 7 each. Keian Worrix played all forty minutes for UPIKE controlling the tempo of the game and finishing with 7 points, 2 assists, and 0 turnovers.
UPIKE would shoot 48.2% (27-56) from the field and 23.8% (5-21) from three while Huntington shot 40.4% (21-52) from the field and 16% (4-25) from three. UPIKE would outrebound Huntington 35-33.
The Bears will play the winner of LSU-Shreveport and Thomas University matchup tomorrow at 3pm CST.
