PIKEVILLE, Ky. --- The Life University men's basketball team held onto an upset bid through the first 34 minutes of play on the road at Mid-South Conference rival (RV) University of Pikeville, but a scoring drought over the final six minutes of play led to a 55-49 loss Saturday afternoon.

Life U (5-10, 2-8 MSC) came out of the gates slowly at Pikeville (13-4, 6-3 MSC), finding themselves down 13-6 with 12 minutes to go in the first half. The team quickly came charging back, tying the game following a Cam Horton three and then taking a 15-13 lead after a Will Freeman jumper capped off a 9-0 run for the Running Eagles. The lead was pushed to four, 23-19, after a Chris Barnes jumper with 6:19 to play. The teams traded blows through the rest of the half, the Bears holding a slight 27-26 lead going into the break.

In the second half, a C. Barnes score in the paint in the Running Eagles' first possession gave Life U a lead that would be held for the majority of the period. Similar to the first half, there were not many fast break opportunities, both teams playing the possession clock low in their half court offenses in another low scoring half. A Dara Olonade bucket with 8:25 to play in the game gave the Running Eagles their largest lead of the game at 47-40. A Nathan Presnell to keep the differential the same a minute and a half later ended up being the last points scored by a Life U player. The Bears scored 13 unanswered points while Life U could not find a score, losing late 55-49.

C. Barnes provided a sizable portion of Life U's points, being the team's only double digit scorer, providing a game-high 19 points while also leading the team with six rebounds.

The Running Eagles held a slight advantage in shooting percentage at 44.9% (22-for-49) to Pikeville's 38.9 (21-for-54), but trailed from both deep 18.2% (2-for-11) to 21.1% (4-for-19) and from the free throw line 42.9% (3-for-7) to 75% (9-for-12). Life U was not as productive down low as the Bears, trailing the Pikeville in both points in the paint 32-26 and rebounds 32-25.

Life U returns to the Eagles Nest for its next contest, facing Cumberland University in a home Mid-South Conference contest Monday, January 24th at 8 PM.