Jordan Stephens/Men's Basketball | Cumberland University, Lebanon, TN
Jordan Stephens/Men's Basketball | Cumberland University, Lebanon, TN
The Phoenix fought their way back from a huge second half deficit to drop an intense road battle with Pikeville by only one point. It came down to the final second of play and a made free throw by the Bears in the nail-biter conference matchup.
It took an entire team effort for the Phoenix as they came back from as much as a seventeen point difference to drop by only a single Pikeville free throw.
Cumberland (8-8, 5-6) shot 49% from the field (25-of-51) compared to Pikeville’s (10-7, 7-5) 39.6% (21-of-53). The Bears out-rebounded the Phoenix 31-22 but CU picked up two more steals than UPike which were crucial in allowing them to bounce back late in the game.
Jordan Stephens had a huge second half for CU, ending with 14 points and going 4-6 from behind the arc. Isaac Stephens- who clinched his 1000th career point with the Phoenix in the game- posted nine points and a team-high of eight boards. Jaylen Negron recorded nine points off the bench and played a key role in the second half comeback.
The Bears were led by Teddy Parham Jr. with 19 points, followed by two other players in double-digit figures in Devin Collins with 13 and Jacob Brown with ten.
Cumberland had a solid start to the game, with momentum ignited by a three from Jordan Stephens in the first minute of play. They led by as many as nine points- shooting 70% at the 13th minute mark- but Pikeville turned up the intensity to turn the half around in their favor.
A scoreless three minutes midway through the half proved to be detrimental for the Phoenix, as the Bears climbed their way to the lead and ended the half with a thirteen point advantage.
The Phoenix gave away eight turnovers and committed 12 fouls- seven more than their opponent- before the break.
It wasn’t the second half start the Phoenix were looking to have- they came out of the break with another three minute scoreless stretch- but they picked up the energy just in time to make the game’s winner unclear until the very last second.
The Phoenix battled to recover their disadvantage all half long but it wasn’t until a five point run from Negron that CU saw an energy shift. TJ Stargell and Isaac Stephens each added in a free throw to bring it to a one possession game for the Phoenix.
Down by three with less than two minutes to play, Tyler Byrd sank a huge ball from outside the arc that allowed CU to tie it at 63-63.
It was an all out battle of possession in the final minute of the game with Jacob Brown laying one up for Pikeville and CU’s Demarius Boyd immediately responding with one of his own at 65-65 with 18 seconds left to play.
The Bears picked up a foul while charging the bucket which sent Parham to the line with two seconds on the clock and allowed Pikeville to secure the winning point.
The Phoenix will head back to their home court next week for two conference matches in the Dallas Floyd Phoenix Arena. They are set to play No.2 Thomas More on Thursday at 7:30 pm and they will then see Wilberforce that Saturday at 3 pm.
Original source can be found here
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