The Berkeley College men's basketball team dropped its second game in three days, falling to the Bears of the University of Pikeville by the score of 93-84. The contest took place at East Kentucky Expo Center. With the defeat, the Knights slipped to 3-2 on the 2018-2019 season, while the University of Pikeville improved to 8-2.
Today's defeat for the Knights means that Berkeley College has lost two games in a campaign for the first time since the 2014-2015 season. That year, Berkeley lost five contests, but still won 22 games, while also capturing HVIAC and USCAA titles.
In the loss to the Bears, Berkeley College was paced by Ricardo Ayuso, as he scored a team-high 19 points while connecting on six of his nine attempts from the floor. The senior also drilled five of his seven shots from the charity stripe, as well. Newcomer Deylon Bovell netted 14 points while snatching a game-high seven rebounds, tallying three assists, and recording two steals. Shamiek Shappard put forth a versatile performance, recording 13 points, pulling down four rebounds, recording three assists, and tallying three steals.
The University of Pikeville was led by Jayvian Delacruz, as he dominated in this one with a game-high 30 points (10-12 FT) to go along with six rebounds and a pair of steals. Luke Layhew added 17 points while swishing eight of his 10 attempts from the floor. He also added five rebounds in the triumph. Stanley Perrin netted 12 points while pulling down four rebounds, and Jazz Parker chipped in with 10 points, five assists, three rebounds, and three steals.
Berkeley College gave the Bears all they could handle for the first 25 minutes of this contest. Trailing 37-33 at halftime, the Knights opened the second half with an 8-0 run to pull ahead by a score of 41-37. That 8-0 run included a converted three-point basket from Ayuso, a long trey from Anthony Hemingway, and a two-point shot from Bovell in the paint. The Knights eventually built their advantage up to seven (50-43), but the University of Pikeville used a ferocious 20-0 run in the second stanza to go up 63-50 and pull away from the Knights.
Layhew was the sparkplug for the Bears in that aforementioned run, as he netted eight of his 17 points during that spurt, including the final six.
The Knights connected on 51.7 percent of their shots from the floor (31-60), compared to a 56.7 conversion rate for the University of Pikeville (33-58). The Bears held a slim 32-30 edge in the rebounding department, while also committing just 17 turnovers to Berkeley's 24. The Knights shot much better from the charity stripe, hitting on 12 of their 17 attempts there (70.6 percent) compared to 60 percent for the University of Pikeville (21-35).
Berkeley College will now have six days off before returning to action on Sunday, December 2, as the Knights will play their home opener against St. Joseph's College of Vermont. The contest takes place at the Hill Center. Start-time is scheduled for 2:30pm.