PIKEVILLE, Ky.— On the road to face a top-25 foe for the second time this season, the Montreat men's basketball team took on the No. 16-ranked University of Pikeville Bears Wednesday evening in an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) affair. While the matchup was just a two-score game at halftime, the hosts utilized a strong second frame to defeat the visitors, 81-53. With the loss, the Cavaliers fell to 13-6 (7-4 AAC).
 
A pair of triples from RJ Manginello and Jarden Maze coupled with a putback from Dyllan Barnwell gave Montreat a slight 8-7 edge nearly three minutes into the contest. Jack Keller, who scored the 1,000^th point of his collegiate career on Wednesday, added a layup of his own later on to make the score 13-11 in favor of the away team.
 
Playing within a close margin for much of the initial half, Pikeville (17-4, 10-3 AAC) started to create a little separation late in the period. Defense proved to be the name of the game during the first frame, but the Bears utilized an 8-3 spurt to build a 30-22 advantage with 2:45 left prior to the intermission. Barnwell tacked on another putback basket before the buzzer, but the hosts maintained a 34-28 lead at the half.
 
UPIKE began to pull away during the early stages of the second frame, capitalizing on a 15-5 run to vault in front by 16 points (49-33) less than six minutes after play resumed.
 
Despite their efforts, the Cavs couldn't trim their deficit to single digits across the final 16:57 of regulation. With seven minutes left, Pikeville expanded its edge to more than 20 points (67-45). The Bears led by as many as 33 points (81-48) thanks to a 47-25 second half in their favor. Ultimately, the home team captured an 81-53 win inside UPIKE Gymnasium.
 
"Right now, there is a 30-point gap between third and fourth place, and we have to work to close that gap," said head coach Anthony Barringer. "Tip your cap to Pikeville. They're really well coached, they have tough dudes and they play their style at a really high level. I thought we were completely out of sync from wire to wire, and that's on me. I have to prepare my team better moving forward."
 
Pikeville's shooting percentages bested Montreat in all three phases. The hosts went 33-of-68 from the floor (48.5 percent), 8-for-26 from deep (30.8 percent) and 7-of-10 at the line (70.0 percent). On the flip side, the Cavaliers shot 33.9 percent overall (21-62 FG), 20.0 percent from beyond the arc (4-20 3-pt FG) and 63.6 percent at the charity stripe (7-11 FT). UPIKE registered more points in the paint (48-32), second chance points (14-9), turnovers forced (10-5), assists (20-5), and rebounds (45-36) than the visitors.
 
Maze paced the squad with 16 points and eight rebounds. Manginello contributed eight points and two assists, while both Keller and AJ Baskerville scored seven points and grabbed five boards.
 
Montreat is back inside Kimmel Arena on Saturday for an AAC matchup versus the Tennessee Wesleyan University Bulldogs. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. in Asheville, N.C.