PULASKI, Tenn. – The Martin Methodist Men's Basketball team saw a 10-point second half lead slip away in a hard-fought 74-67 defeat to No. 19 University of Pikeville (Ky.) Thursday night at the SSAC/Mid-South Men's Basketball Challenge in the Curry Christian Life Center.

After trailing by as many as nine points in the first half, the RedHawks (4-1) rallied back to take a 36-31 lead at halftime.

In the second half, the RedHawks continued to control the pace of the game and eventually built their lead to as many as 10 points with just over 15 minutes left in the contest.

Little by little, however, the Bears (9-0) continued to chip away at the RedHawk lead and eventually re-took the lead with a bucket at the 4:17 mark.

The RedHawks trimmed the lead to one and were within a single possession of potentially tying the game on a number of other occasions, but were unable to re-claim the lead themselves.

The loss was a disappointing one for the RedHawks, who had met Pikeville just one other time in program history – in the 2011 Fab Four of the NAIA national tournament.

That infamous 2011 contest, like Thursday's matchup, saw the Bears use a strong second-half surge to race past the RedHawks.

Four RedHawks finished in double-figures in Thursday's defeat, with senior guard Caleb Chowbay's 16 points leading the way. AJ Lynch (14), Will Smith (13) and Broderick Davis (11) rounded out the double-digit scoring efforts.

Big man Michael Lewis led the attack for the Bears with 21 points and 16 rebounds. Fellow forward Darrion Lewis added 17 points and nine rebounds in the victory.

The loss snapped a four-game win streak for the RedHawks, who will look to rebound Friday night with their second game in the SSAC/Mid-South Men's Basketball Challenge with a showdown against No. 2 Georgetown (Ky.) College.

The Tigers improved to 7-0 with a 65-57 victory over No. 22 Faulkner (Ala.) University in their contest Thursday.

Friday night's tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the CLC.