Senior guard LA Walker scored 18 of his 26 points in the first half to lead the University of Pikeville to a 91-78 win over Union Commonwealth University Wednesday night at the Appalachian Wireless Arena.
 
Although the game was between two members of the Appalachian Wireless Arena, it will not count in the league standings. The closing of St. Andrews University at the end of he 2024-25 academic year created an unbalanced schedule, so the league decided to make one game non countable. For the Bears and Bulldogs, that game was Wednesday.
 
It does count in the overall record, so the Bears improved to 6-2 on the season and ran their win streak to five.
 
Union is now 2-5 on the campaign.
 
A pair of free throws by junior forward Devin Dunn put the Bulldogs in front 20-18 midway through the first half. Dunn was on his way to a team-high 24 points thanks to 10 for 13 shooting.
 
But the Bears needed only 3:44 to score 15 unanswered points to take command. Walker had seven in the stretch while sophomore Jaylan Rigdon added five. Walker closed it out with a pair of free throws and a three-pointer to put the Bears on top 33-20.
 
Only a minute later, UPike scored 10 more unanswered points, with Walker again leading the way with six to push the lead to 46-25 with 1:40 left in the half.
 
At the break, the lead was 50-29.
 
In the second half the Bulldogs rallied, cutting the lead to seven at one point. It came when sophomore Jabari Covington nailed a three-pointer with 5:21 left to make the score 75-68.
 
But the Bears righted the ship with the next five points, all by senior Bradley Bunch as he sank two free throws and a three-point shot to push the lead back to 12 at 80-68.
 
Bunch finished with 10 points and team best eight rebounds and five assists.
 
Rigdon scored 25 points to go with four assists and three steals. Most of his points came from going 14 for 14 from the free throw line. His efforts helped the Bears to shoot 28 of 30, 93.3 percent.
 
Freshman Zion Blevins finished with 11 points.
 
Junior Ali Sakho had a fantastic game for Union, scoring 18 and pulling down 10 rebounds. Junior Kaleb Hedgepeth followed with 16 points.
 
UPike will be back in action on Saturday afternoon, opening play in the NAIA Showcase "The Show" at 12:45 p.m. when it faces Indiana-East. The Show is held at the MeadowView Marriott Conference Resort & Convention Center in Kingsport, Tenn.