In the second matchup between the Shawnee State Bears (8-15, 3-9) and the University of Pikeville Bears (15-8. 7-5), it was Pikeville that came out on top 88-75. Pikeville was able to revenge a loss from earlier in the year when Shawnee State beat the then number 1-ranked Pikeville in a 86-84 thriller, despite another strong effort from Mark Bryant who scored 22 points.
The Bears stayed with Pikeville early and a 3-pointer by junior Jeremy Bennington (Blue Creek, OH) knotted the game at 10 with 12:56 left in the first half. Pikeville's Chris McHenry had a 3-pointer of his own to recapture the lead. Junior Mark Bryant (Milford, OH) stole the ball and made the basket to pull the Bears within one. McHenry answered with five straight points for Pikeville to give them the 18-12 advantage.
A 3-pointer by Bryant cut the lead to 18-15, but a 5-0 run extended the lead back to a three possession game. Pikeville would go on to extend their lead to double-digits, 31-19, as McHenry drained his sixth 3-pointer of the first half. Pikeville would capture the largest lead of the first half, 43-27, on a jumper by Andrew Young and they would maintain that lead into the break.
Pikeville out shot Shawnee State 53 percent to 44 percent from the floor in the first half and McHenry had 20 points at the break.
In the second, Pikeville extended their lead, 50-30 with a long range shot by Josh Whitaker. Shawnee battled back with an 9-0 run but that was as close as the Bears would get. Pikeville's Andrew Young stopped the run with a 3-point play.
Bennington scored on a fast-break to cut the lead to 58-46 with 11:40 left in the game, but a 9-0 run by Pikeville extended their lead to 21 with just under 10 minutes to play. Another 9-0 run by Pikeville put the dagger in the Bears as they took a 67-46 lead and the Bears were never able to recover falling 88-75.
Bryant led the Bears with 22 points and six rebounds. Junior Tyler Boyles (Raceland, OH) added 19 points, including five 3-pointers. Bennington finished with 15 points off the bench and sophomore Andrew Devlin had a career-high four blocks.
McHenry led all scorers with 29 points to go along with seven steals and six assists. Young finished with 20 points and Shane Burrell tallied 14 points for Pikeville.
Pikeville shot 52 percent from the field in the game, compared to the Bears who shot 44 percent. Both teams made 11 3-pointers in the game, Shawnee State shot 33 percent while Pikeville shot 52 percent. At the line, Shawnee State converted 10-of-16 free throws, while Pikeville made 11-of-25 attempts.
Shawnee State hosts 12th-ranked Georgetown on Saturday, February 11th for Homecoming. The women's game is set to tip-off at 2:00 p.m. The men's game will begin at approximately 4:30 p.m.
