GEORGETOWN, Ky. — Third-ranked University of Pikeville led Georgetown by six with less than five minutes to play, but eighth-ranked Georgetown made plays when it mattered, pulling off a 109-101 win on Monday.
When K.K. Simmons made a three to give the Bears their largest lead yet at 89-83, the Tigers came alive, led by Tony Kimbro, for a 9-2 run that changed the outcome of the game.
Kimbro finished with 30 points and nine rebounds, while his teammate Noah Cottrill led all scorers with 34, including eight 3-pointers. Deondre McWhorter joined them in double figures with 27 points and nine boards as well.
Simmons paced UPIKE with 32 points, including six threes, Kenny Manigault added 27 and Jackson Hussey put together a double-double of 13 points and 14 rebounds.
Georgetown outshot the Bears 56.2 to 43.7 percent from the field and hit one more three at 9-8. UPIKE did a lot of its work from the stripe, making 31 of 38 attempts, compared to an 18-of-24 showing by the Tigers. Rebounds went in favor of the Bears 43-34, but Georgetown just made more shots, hitting 41 field goals to UPIKE’s 31.
The points poured in through the first five minutes, leading to Cottrill and Kimbro making back-to-back threes to give the Tigers a 14-7 lead. It was just an 8-7 lead when Simmons made a three of his own, but the Tigers got the 6-0 run to sway momentum..
As quick as that happened, the Bears (25-3, 12-3 MSC) fired right back, getting buckets from Brooks and Simmons followed by another three from Simmons to get things knotted at 16. Brooks got into the 3-point act on the next possession, but things were heating up on both sides as Cottrill answered.
Cottrill ended up making five long-range bombs for Georgetown in the first 10 minutes, but luckily for the Bears, Manigault was there for some tough buckets down low to keep things knotted up at 32-32.
An 8-3 Tiger run followed as McWhorter flushed a dunk, Kimbro went untouched down the lane and Cottrill made a tough finish at the cup for the last six points of it. When Cottrill made his layup it was a 40-35 Tiger lead, the largest yet, before Manigault answered yet again to cut it to three.
Just when things looked like they were settling down for the Bears, Georgetown (24-4, 11-3 MSC) went off on a 6-0 run as no one could stop Kimbro. Trailing 46-37, Pikeville picked up its pace as well, going on a 7-0 run of its own to get back within two with less than two minutes until halftime.
Christian Leach came up with one of the better plays off the half for UPIKE in the final seconds as he took a bump in the paint and finished a 3-point play to make it a 50-49 lead for the Tigers at the break.
Five minutes into the second half it was still a one-point game at 62-61 when Hussey threw a no-look pass to Leach who finished for a 3-point play, giving UPIKE a 64-62 lead. Following a stop, Hussey got to the line for two makes, putting the Bears up by four for the first time since the 11:30 mark of the first half (26-22).
UPIKE was still up two with 12 minutes to play at 73-71 but lost Cottrill on defense and he made it pay with his sixth three to put the Tigers up one. Three minutes later, UPIKE broke open a 78-78 tie with three free throws by Simmons after the Bears pulled down four offensive rebounds on one possession.
The three-point lead lasted just seconds as Cottrill nailed a contested three, his seventh of the game, to tie the score yet again. It remained tied at 83 until Leach was fouled down low and made one of the freebies. After a miss on the other end, Brooks took off down the baseline for a layup to give Pikeville some breathing room at 86-83 with 5:54 left.
After another Georgetown miss, Pikeville took advantage in a big way as Simmons connected on a three in the corner with two defenders on him. It gave the Bears their largest lead yet of six points at 89-83. The shot, however, seemed to energize the Tigers as they reeled off a 9-2 run to go back in front by one with 3:44 on the clock.
Kimbro added the final four points of the run with two straight fast-break layups which followed McWhorter completing a 3-point play down low to turn the tide of the game. It took just over two minutes for a six-point Bear lead to turn into a three-point Georgetown lead after Kimbro added a pair of free throws.
Trailing 98-95 in the final two minutes, Manigault sank a pair of free throws to get within one. UPIKE had a chance to take the lead, but immediately turned the ball over, leading to a Cottrill three to put the Tigers up 101-97. Cottrill tried to add another the next time down, but missed and McWhorter stuck it back in to push the lead to six with a minute left.
UPIKE never recovered from the quick 5-0 burst as Georgetown took care of business from the stripe in the final seconds. Six points was as close as the Bears could claw back in the final 30 seconds after a Hussey layup as Cottrill and McWhorter combined to go 6 for 6 at the line in that span.
The Bears have one game left in the regular season at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday at Life in Marietta, Ga.
Comments
