COLLEGE BASKETBALL: UPIKE men rally past Thomas More

University of Pikeville’s men basketball Bears used a strong second-half surge and held on to knock off previously unbeaten Thomas More on the road New Year’s Eve.

The victory helped the Bears even their record at 4-4 while the Saints dropped to 3-1.

Korbin Spencer came up big offensively with a team-high 19 points while Malcolm Green added 17.

UPIKE will host Shawnee State (8-2) at 4 pm Saturday at the Appalachian Wireless Arena.

At Crestview

SCORE BY HALVES:

UP (4-4)…29  39 – 68

TN (3-1)…33  32 – 65

Scoring:

UPIKE (68) – Korbin Spencer 2(3) 6-7 19; Malcom Green 5(2) 1-3 17; Jacob Brown 2 2-4 6; Jordan Perry 2 0-1 4; Darius Love 1 0-0 2; Jamir Simpson 3 3-4 9; Taevon Horton 2 3-4 7 and Christian Sweazie 1 2-2 4. Totals: 18(5) 17-25 68.

Thomas More (65) – Reid Jolly 10(3) 2-5 31; Ryan Batte 5 1-1 11; Logan Swackammer 2(1) 0-0 7; Garrett Bertsch 0 3-4 3; Keegan Saben 1 0-0 2; T.J. Deere 0(3) 0-0 9; and Noah Pack 1 0-2 2. Totals: 19(7) 6-12 65.

Next up: UPIKE (4-4) vs. Shawnee State (8-2), 4 pm, Jan. 2.