Bears eliminated from bowling tournament

 
 
Bears eliminated from bowling tournament   April 18, 2008

PIKEVILLE, Ky. — When the money was on the table, it just wasn’t in the cards for the Pikeville College Bears, who were eliminated from the men’s bracket of the 2008 USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships Friday night.

Pikeville lost 4-3 to the team it opened the day with a win over, the Purdue Boilermakers. The Bears lost after building a 3-2 lead thanks to six open frames in the last two games, four of them coming in the closer.

The loss sends Pikeville out in fifth place in the 16-team tournament after opening with morning wins over Purdue and Arizona State before losing twice, first to UNLV and then to the Boilermakers.

Pikeville opened strong, rolling five strikes down the stretch to win 208-184. Sophomore All-American Kyle Barnes had two of them in the 10th frame, while freshman Jeremy King had two for the game as well.

Games two and three went the way of the Boilermakers, finishing 190-165 and 199-175. After opening with a turkey by Gerald Richardson, King and Mark Mantle, the Bears posted four open frames in the next six to let Game Two slip away. Three straight open frames to begin Game Three doomed the Bears.

Pikeville evened the score in Game Four with an impressive 245-221 win, with all five players — Richardson, King, Mantle, Nathan Hause and Barnes — rolling strikes in their second go-around. King and Mantle had a pair of strikes in the win.

The Bears moved to the cusp of advancing with a 215-180 win in Game Five. The Bears had eight strikes in nine frames counting Barnes’ trio in the 10th. He had four in the game, while Hause had a pair.

Purdue evened the count and forced the deciding game with a 201-165 win in Game Six. Purdue followed an open frame in the third with four straight strikes, while Barnes had Pikeville’s only two strikes of the game.

In Game Seven, Pikeville had a puncher’s chance despite the four opens. When Hause rolled a strike in the ninth frame, Purdue posted a strike in 10 but got a nine when another strike would have put Pikeville away.

This left the door slightly open for Barnes, who needed two strikes and a seven to win. He struck with the first ball but got only seven on the next as Purdue advanced with the 172-165 win.

Barnes was remarkable with 11 strikes in the game and three spares in his 14 frames. Hause and King had seven strikes each, with Hause adding on five spares and King four.

In his 44 frames in the tournament, the King, the freshman from Pikeville, had 23 strikes.

Purdue advances to the bracket finals where it will need two wins over UNLV to win the bracket and advance in the finals. In the other men’s bracket, Wichita State will need to win twice over two-time defending champion Saginaw Valley State to reach the finals.

If Vegas or Saginaw win their opener, they will advance to the finals.

Women to meet NCAA Champs

Last weekend Maryland-Eastern Shore won the NCAA bowling championships. This evening, they fought past a determined Lindenwood squad to remain alive in the USBC ITC tournament.

On Saturday morning at 9:15, the Hawks will play Pikeville College in the finals of their bracket play. The Hawks will need to beat Pikeville twice consecutively to advance to the finals.

In the other pool, Morehead State held on for evening wins to advance to meet unbeaten Wichita State. Like Maryland-Eastern Shore, the Eagles will need back-to-back wins over the Shockers to reach the finals.