Cumberland (6-10, 2-6) began this week’s road trip with only 10 players and went into tonight’s contest against the Bears dressing nine due to an injury suffered by starting point guard Kenneth Stripling Thursday night against UVA-Wise.

Pikeville (17-1, 7-1), fresh off of a win versus No. 1 University of the Cumberlands Thursday night, led comfortably the entire game.

It took the Bulldogs over four minutes to get on the scoreboard before an Elijah Gillis three-pointer made it 8-3. The Bears quickly raced ahead 16-3, and a Lester Gude jumper lessened the lead to 14.  Cumberland did not score again until 10:42, when a Gillis layup made the score 24-7.

Pikeville continued to seemingly score at will for the remainder of the first period, ending the half leading 51-21. In the first twenty minutes, CU had twice as many turnovers (16) as field goals (8).

The second half was much of the same for CU, as the Bears’ Trevor Setty scored 13 seconds in to put his team up by 32. Creshaun Holt’s jumper moments later put the score at 53-23, but the Bulldogs were unable to further lessen the lead.

The biggest deficit for the Bulldogs came with 2:49 on the clock with Pikeville rolling to a 55-point advantage. Holt and Ryan Slusher contributed some offense in the second half for CU, with Holt scoring nine points and Slusher tallying seven. Moritz Dern also registered his first two buckets of the season in the second stanza.

On the afternoon, Jerret Towns posted eight points along with eight rebounds, and Slusher concluded with nine points.

Cumberland hits the road again next week for two conference contests, playing at No. 14 Lindsey Wilson College Thursday at 6 p.m. CT and Campbellsville University Saturday at 3 p.m. CT.