Senior point guard Keian Worrix scored 23 points to lead the University of Pikeville to an 87-80 win over Bluefield (Va.) University on Wednesday night at the Appalachian Wireless Arena.
 
Worrix finished two points shy of his career high of 25, which he scored as a freshman against the then-No. 1 team in the country, Thomas More University. On Wednesday, he also had 10 assists.
 
The win was a hard-fought one for the Bears, the preseason favorite to win the AAC, who were playing the team the coaches picked to finish last in the league.
 
UPike is now 2-2 on the season after winning the league opener, while Bluefield fell to 0-3 on the season.
 
The Rams started strong, building to a 33-20 lead with 7:40 left in the first half. From there, the Bears outscored them 19-8 the remainder of the half. At the break, Bluefield held a slim 41-39 lead.
 
UPike took the lead for the first time with 16:37 left when senior Bradley Bunch nailed a three to make it 47-45. But it didn't last long, as the Rams needed only nine seconds to tie the score and had regained the lead, at 51-49, with 15:27 still to play.
 
Bluefield led for the final time with 4:01 left when senior DJ McDonald dunked to make the score 78-76. The Bears then scored six straight points, getting layups by seniors LA Walker and Bunch followed by a pair of free throws by freshman Zion Blevins to go ahead 82-78 with 2:23 left.
 
The Bears closed it out with five straight free throws, the final three by Worrix, and had its largest lead at the end of the game.
 
Bunch, who finished with 18 points, moved into 19^th place on the all-time scoring list with his late layup, passing late UPike Hall of Famer Danny Moses with 1,261 points. He also had seven rebounds.
 
Senior Keynan Cutlip scored 11 points in the win, while Blevins had 10 points and a game-high eight rebounds.  
 
McDonald led the Rams with 22 points and had five rebounds. Senior guard Elijah White followed with 21 markers to go with five assists, while senior Shaft Clark tossed in 10.
 
UPike will return to the court on Saturday afternoon, hosting Columbia International (S.C.) University at 4 p.m. That game will be played at the UPike Gym.