PIKEVILLE, Ky. – The Lindsey Wilson men's basketball team fell just short of pulling the upset over No. 4 Pikeville (Ky.), falling 89-86 at the East Kentucky Expo Center on Thursday night.
Julian Edmonson went for a career-high 32 points in the loss, including four made three-point field goals and hitting 10-of-11 shots from the charity stripe. Bryan Wallace also notched his career-high with 20 points after a last-second three-point shot banked in.
Lindsey Wilson falls to 10-9 on the year and 1-5 in Mid-South Conference play. All five MSC losses this season have come by five points or less, including three by a single possession.
Pikeville moves to 16-1 on the year and 5-1 in the MSC.
The teams exchanged baskets early with the game becoming tied at 9-9 three and half minutes in.
Then Pikeville broke out into their high-scoring up-and-down offense, using a 13-4 run to build a 22-13 lead at the 10:40 mark in the first half.
But the Blue Raiders slowed the game down and used quality offensive possessions to go on an 11-2 run and cut the lead to one at 25-24 after a three pointer by Edmonson.
After an exchange of baskets, D'on Hall stole the ball and dunked it home for the 30-29 lead. Wallace followed soon after with a steal and fast-break bucket of his own to retake the lead 34-32.
A Pikeville three pointer gave the lead back to the Bears, but Roderick Clark found Hall late in the shot clock on the ensuing possession for a dunk and the 36-35 lead with 1:57 left in the first. Another dunk from Edmonson gave the Blue Raiders a three-point 40-37 lead, which they took into halftime after trailing by nine points earlier in the game.
The Blue Raiders shot 50.0 percent from the floor in the opening half compared to 57.9 percent by Pikeville. Lindsey Wilson was able to get quality scoring from the bench with 18 points while Pikeville's bench scored just four points. The Blue Raiders also won the turnover battle committing nine compared to 12 by the Bears, while holding Pikeville without an offensive rebound in the first half.
Edmonson and Wallace both went into double digits in the first half, Edmonson with 16 points and Wallace with 10.
The second half saw Lindsey Wilson hold on to their lead, pushing it to as many as eight points at 55-47 with 15:37 to play.
Pikeville trimmed it down to two points at 57-55 with 12:53 to go, but the Blue Raiders refused to budge and maintained their slim lead for the next five-plus minutes until the Bears finally brought it back level at 69-69 with seven and a half minutes to play.
A pair of free throws gave Pikeville their first lead since it was 37-36 in the first half.
Eventually, Lindsey Wilson saw their 67-61 lead erased via a 12-4 run with the majority of the Bears' points in the stretch coming from the free-throw line.
The Blue Raiders kept it close and trailed by just four points with 2:24 to play. A foul on a three-point shot allowed Pikeville to make all three free throws and push the lead up to six at 83-77 with 1:04 to go.
The final possessions saw the Blue Raiders get to the basket and score, but Pikeville answered every made basket with free throws, going 6-of-8 from the line in the final 42 seconds to keep the game just out of reach.
Wallace banked in a half-court heave at the buzzer, but Pikeville was able to escape with the 89-86 win.
It was a physical game from the start and by the end of the night 52 total fouls had been issued, 32 on Lindsey Wilson and 20 on Pikeville.
The Blue Raiders finished the game shooting 50.1 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from beyond the arc with 20-of-26 made shots from the free throw line.
Pikeville shot 51.2 from the field and 33.3 percent from three, but were able to get to the charity stripe 52 times, converting 41 of those attempts.
The Blue Raiders now begin preparations for their game on Saturday against Cumberlands (Ky.) at 3 p.m. CT in Williamsburg, Kentucky.
