The Tigers (15-5, 0-4 Mid-South Conference) made just 10-of-30 shots in the second half and started just 2-for-15 from the floor out of the half. Tim Coleman provided the offensive spark for Campbellsville with 27 points, which tied his career high. Coleman first scored 27 points on the road against Alice Lloyd College on Dec. 5 during the team’s first road game of the year.
Jayvian Delacruz finished with a team-high 17 points off the bench for the Bears (17-2, 2-2 MSC) and Darrion Leslie led the starters with 14 points as Pikeville snapped its two-game skid.
Campbellsville jumped out to an early lead right out of the gate as it hedged ahead to a 13-4 lead – its largest of the game – with 16:08 left in the first half after Hagen Tyler knocked down his only three-pointer of the first half.
The Bears only led for the 52 seconds in the first half and the Tigers held the lead through most of the period. After the score was tied at two, Pikeville scored six-straight points to tie the game at 31 all – the only other time the Bears tied score in the half. However, after a dry spell from both teams that lasted 2:21, Campbellsville came back and regained the lead. The Tigers held the lead for the final 3:10 of the first half to grab a 41-38 edge heading into the break.
Campbellsville shot 48.3 percent in the first 20 minutes of action and went 7-for-16 from three, while the Bears were 44.4 percent overall and just 4-for-10 from deep.
Pikeville turned the tables to open the second half scoring the first seven points to grab a 45-41 lead and forcing the Tigers to take a timeout. Campbellsville scored its first points of the second half on a three-pointer from Shawn Johnson at the 15:15 mark in the stanza.
The basket from Johnson did not spark a run from the Tigers as Pikeville continued to stretch its run. The Bears scored 25 of the first 32 points in the second half, while Campbellsville went just 2-for-15 from the field over the first 11:52 of the half with the Tigers getting back-to-back buckets from Johnson and Coleman.
With the 25-7 run during the first 12 minutes of the second half, Pikeville grabbed its largest lead of the night at 63-48.
Campbellsville started to cut away at its deficit scored six-consecutive points to pull within nine points with seven minutes to play, but the Bears countered with the next six points to regain their 15-point advantage.
In the final five minutes of regulation, Campbellsville pulled the game back within single digits, but it could not string together defensive stops as Pikeville went on to beat the Tigers, 81-72.
After shooting just 2-for-15 to start the second half, Campbellsville went 8-for-15 over the final eight minutes to finish the half shooting 33.3 percent and the Bears shot 53.1 percent from the field in the half.
Second chance points kept Pikeville in the game in the first half as it generated 11 second-chance points in the first half and had just two in the second half. Campbellsville compiled just four second-chance points throughout the game.
Following the loss, the Tigers move to 0-4 in the MSC and they are the only team in the conference without a win in MSC action this season. Campbellsville’s four-game skid matches its longest stretch without a win over the last four seasons as the Tigers have now lost four games in a row in each of the last three campaigns.
Campbellsville continues it home stretch on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. ET against Shawnee State University.
