Defending national champ No. 1 Georgetown rolls in battle of unbeaten in-state rivals
In a high-stakes battle between a pair of undefeated contenders, it was the defending champs who prevailed.
The No. 1-ranked Georgetown College men’s basketball team dominated No. 4 Pikeville, 73-60, in Davis-Reid Alumni Gym in Georgetown on Saturday to improve to 12-0 overall and 2-0 in the Mid-South Conference. Former Lincoln County standout Jacob Conway put together one of the best games of his career to lead the Tigers, scoring 31 points on 11 of 22 shooting and grabbing six rebounds.
Georgetown, which last year went 33-4 and won the NAIA Division I national championship, has rolled through the early part of its schedule, winning by less than double digits just once.
Pikeville (14-1, 2-1 MSC) accounted for Georgetown’s second-closest margin of victory of the year, but the Bears couldn’t keep up with Conway and the rest of the Tigers’ offense. Jake Ohmer hit a short bank shot to put Georgetown up 19-10 early, cuing a Pikeville timeout. Ohmer, who led Scott High School to the semifinals of the 2017 Sweet Sixteen and played two years at Western Kentucky before transferring, finished with seven points and two rebounds.
The Tigers led 42-29 at halftime, and early in the third quarter they scored 10 straight points to go up 52-33. That run was capped by a steal and layup from Chris Coffey, a senior from Seneca High School in Louisville who had 11 points and 16 rebounds.
Pikeville responded with a 6-0 run to get within 13, but moments later Conway nailed his fourth three-pointer to stretch the lead to 57-39. The Bears never got within single digits in the second half.
Eljay Cowherd, a senior from Bardstown, contributed to the win with 14 points on 6-for-12 shooting. With about three minutes to play he jumped a passing lane for a steal and raced down court for a breakaway dunk. Georgetown held Pikeville leading scorer Jordan Perry (Morgan County) to six points on 2-for-13 shooting.
Saturday marked the third game Georgetown has played without former leading scorer Nico Clareth, who left the team in early December shortly after scoring 40 points in a win over Kentucky Christian. Clareth played two years at Siena before transferring to Nicholls State where he sat out last year before ultimately winding up at Georgetown. He made nine appearances for the Tigers this season, averaging 21.6 points per game.
Georgetown returns to action at 8 p.m. Monday at Shawnee State. Pikeville hosts Thomas More at 8 p.m. Monday.
