ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. – Sophomore Bradley Bunch scored a career-high 29 points and pulled down 13 rebounds on Saturday to lead the University of Pikeville to a 97-84 win over Milligan University.
 
The win was Pikeville's eighth straight AAC victory and gave the Bears five straight on the season, as they maintained their spot atop the league standings by improving to 15-4 on the season and 13-2 in the conference.
 
Milligan fell to 7-8 on the season, 7-6 in the AAC.
 
Bunch also had three blocks, two assists and a steal in the win.
 
UPike led 5-4 early before putting some distance between it and the Buffs. It started with a layup by sophomore Keian Worrix. Bunch had a layup and his first three-pointer of the game, and a dunk by senior Issac Stanback made the score 14-4 with 14:25 left in the half.
 
Milligan got within four late in the half when Follie Bogan made a free throw to make it 29-25, but the Buffs were held scoreless the last 3:33 of the period.
 
Meanwhile, the Bears scored the final 10 points of the half as part of a 15-0 run. The Bears were 6-of-7 overall and made all three three-point tries in the run, which ended when senior Jeremy Dillon nailed a three with 19:16 left to run the score to 44-25.
 
The lead remained double figures the rest of the way.
 
Coming off a career-high 33 on Thursday night in a win over Union College, junior Kyonte Thomas scored 22 while handing out nine assists and pulling six rebounds for UPike. He was 7-of-9 from the free throw line in the win.
 
Stanback recorded his ninth double-double on the season, scoring 15 while grabbing 11 rebounds.
 
The Bears were dominant on the glass, winning that battle 45-29.
 
Dillon had 13 points to go with six rebounds and three assists.
 
Junior Jay Hickman came off the bench to lead Milligan with 27 points, hitting 5-of-7 from the arc. Sophomore Lincoln Thomae followed with 17 points to go with three rebounds and three assists.
 
Junior Sam Gold and grad student Follie Bogan had 14 points apiece for the Buffs. Gold led the team with seven rebounds while Bogan handed out six assists.
 
UPike is scheduled to be back in action on Tuesday at the Appalachian Wireless Arena, when they play host to Reinhardt (Ga.) University. Game time is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.