LEBANON, Tenn. — Kelly Wells became the first coach in University of Pikeville men’s basketball history to reach 200 wins as his second-ranked Bears rallied past Cumberland 75-54 on Thursday night at the Dallas Floyd Recreation Center.
K.K. Simmons helped the coach in his ninth season at the school reach the historic mark by tallying a game-high 24 points, including three 3-pointers. Kenny Manigault was the only other Bear to score in double figures with 16 points as they were held to their second lowest offensive output of the season.
The lowest was also registered against Cumberland when UPIKE scored just 72 points in a 13-point win on Jan. 17. Still, the Bears tally another win, bringing their winning streak to 15 games.
The Bulldogs were paced by DeMario Frazier with 13 points and nine rebounds, while Josh Wilkerson added nine points and four boards.
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UPIKE came out of the gates in full control, using threes from Simmons and Trey Rakes to build a 20-7 lead over the first nine minutes. Then things suddenly went stagnant for the Bears as Cumberland started denying their drives while also finding some shooting success from deep.
Over the next six and a half minutes, Cumberland (7-15, 2-7 MSC) outscored UPIKE 17-6 and when Cameron Prather buried his first three of the game it was a two-point contest at 26-24.
The action was fairly even the rest of the half as Simmons added another three and free throw and Macari Brooks went to the line for one as well to put the Bears in front 31-28 at the break.
It took less than eight minutes for UPIKE to extend its lead to double digits in the second half as it outscored Cumberland 14-7. When Manigault finished a 3-point play with 12:55 on the clock, the lead was up to 45-35.
A little less than three minutes later, Malik Jacobs finished off a quick 7-2 run with a pair of free throws to give the Bears (21-1, 8-1 MSC) a 15-point advantage which eventually grew as high as 16 points at 57-41 on a jumper by Simmons.
Cumberland tried to put together another rally to chip away at the lead with 5:55 left, scoring four straight points to bring the deficit back down to 12. But it was interrupted by a Bear team that wasn’t interested in going away, scoring 11 of the next 15 points to go back up by 19.
Hussey started off the final two minutes with a hard drive to the cup to make the score 70-49 and UPIKE spent the rest of the time running out the clock on its way to the 21-point win.
UPIKE finished the game shooting 43.6 percent from the field, compared to 38.2 for Cumberland. The Bears were narrowly beat on the glass 38-37, but made up for it by getting to the line where they made 22 shots compared to just nine for the Bulldogs.
Free throws and timely 3-point shooting proved the difference as the Bears connected on five of their 11 attempts from deep. Holding on to the ball didn’t hurt either as they gave up just 10 turnovers to the Bulldogs’ 20.
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