LEBANON, Tenn.--Cumberland’s second-half rally falls short on a desperation half court heave at the horn falling to the Bears 76-3 at home. 

Cumberland (10-11, 7-9 MSC) trailed by 16 points with 10 minutes to play. The urgency kicked in for Cumberland as they rallied all the way back, but could not tie it at the horn on a last second heave. 

The Phoenix shot 29-of-54 from the field and made four threes in the game, all in the final 10 minutes of play. Cumberland improved their free throw shooting going a perfect 11-of-11. 

Jordan Stephens had another 20-point performance going 10-of-12 from the field for 24 points. He added four rebounds and four dimes. Demarius Boyd gave the Phoenix a spark with 14 points off the bench. Jaylen Negron finished with nine and Nassir Coleman and Isaac Stephens each posted eight. 

Pikeville (13-9, 9-7 MSC) knocked down 11 threes to push them over the Phoenix. The Bears were 46.7% from the field and 40.7% behind the arc. 

Korbin Spencer went for a team-high 22 points on three triples and eight rebounds. Devin Collins scored 14 on four threes, Teddy Parham Jr. added 13, and Keian Worrix scored 11. The Bears only scored eight points off the bench. 

Tied at 8-8 after the first few minutes of play, the Bears made back-to-back baskets including a turnover that led to a fastbreak two for Parham Jr. forcing CU into an early timeout. 

Out of the timeout, Cumberland responded with buckets from Boyd and Tajah Fraley off the bench to tie it. 

The lead swapped hands as both teams traded points for the majority of the quarter all the way to 26-25 Cumberland. From that point, the Bears went on an 8-2 run, but Isaac Stephens closed the half with a layup for Cumberland. Pikeville led 33-30 at the break. 

The Phoenix started the second half on a 4-2 spurt, but the Bears drained a three to get up by five. Cumberland continued to fight back, cutting it to two at 42-40. 

The Bears went on another big run scoring the next eight points to get up by 10 at 50-40 with 14:54 left. 

UPike continued to push that lead out to as big as 16 at 61-45 before the lightbulb flipped on for the Phoenix. Jordan Stephens led a fastbreak dunk to spark CU into a big 15-2 run over the next four minutes of game time to get right back in the game down 63-60. 

Unfortunately for Cumberland, the Bears snapped out of their scoring drought with a three from the corner to Collins. 

Trailing 69-67, Collins buried another clutch three to push the Bears lead to two possessions and Jacob Brown pushed it to seven with a layup leading 74-67 with 35 seconds to go. 

Stephens quickly hit a three to cut it to four. After two free throws the Bears lead grew to six with four seconds. Cumberland hit a three from Boyd as just one second ran off the clock and the Phoenix sent Keynan Cutlip to the line on the inbound. Cutlip missed the front-end of a one-and-one free throw and the Bears, with a foul to give, fouled on the rebound to give CU a chance to tie it at the buzzer. Stephens threw up a heave on the inbound, but it missed and the Bears held off Cumberland 76-73.  

Cumberland will be back at home this Saturday to take on Shawnee State. Tip-off is set for 1:00 p.m. central time.