It's been six years since a box score has showed more than 20 points for Campbellsville University senior T.J. Bishop. The 26-year-old point guard unloaded 26 points to lead the 21st-ranked Tigers past No. 6 Pikeville College, 63-57, Thursday night in Powell Athletic Center to win the Mid-South Conference opener.

"I'm just happy with the win," said Bishop, whose last 20-point game came as a sophomore at Pasco-Hernando Community College (Fla.) in 2004.

After struggling to find his right fit in college hoops from the 2004-05 season until 2008, Bishop landed at Campbellsville. CU head coach Keith Adkins gave Bishop the option to redshirt last season with hopes that this year he'd lead a special team. Bishop trusted his new coach and agreed.

"Oh, no ... I knew. This is what I love to do. I had to get back," said Bishop when asked if he ever doubted he'd be back in the game after sitting a few years. "Coach gave me that opportunity, and I appreciate it. I go out and work hard everyday because of it."

Bishop, who normally focuses more on defense or setting up plays, took charge Thursday night with his perimeter shot. After Jonathan Clark gave Pikeville its first lead of the night, 15-14, on a pair of free throws, Bishop lit up the left side of the court. He hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Tigers a five point lead, 20-15. Pikeville refused to fold and regained the lead again, 22-20, with 7:28 left in the first half. But Bishop was just getting started, as he hit his fourth 3-pointer of the night to regain the lead, 23-22.

"His shots were incredible," Adkins said. "The way that people want to play Nestor (Colmenares) with double-teams and triple-teams, somebody's got to step up and make shots, and T.J. did that."

It was Colmenares that helped set up Bishop's big night, creating an inside-outside threat.

"Coach has been pressing going inside-outside. A couple of times we'd throw it into Ness and I'd try to go behind the defense and spot up," Bishop said.

Colmenares secured a career-high 18 rebounds and 16 points in the win.

"That's Nestor," Adkins said. "A lot of people think we have this big guy who's going to go out and score 20 every night. That's not Nestor. He's unselfish, and you saw that tonight."

After taking a 32-28 lead into halftime, CU held Pikeville in check from the floor in the second half. After the Bears took a short lead, 42-41, with 12 minutes to play, Campbellsville held them to 4-of-12 shooting the rest of the game. Pikeville's 57 points is the second lowest offensive production CU has forced on a Top 25 NAIA Division I opponent this season, behind holding then-No. 11 Union University to 50 points on the road in November.

"With about 10 seconds left to go, I heard Coach (Bryan) Milburn yell down the bench, 'If we keep people to 50, we're going to be hard to beat,'" Adkins said.

The win puts CU even at No. 1 in the MSC standings with Georgetown College and Lindsey Wilson College - its next two opponents, both of which won on the road Thursday.

" Yes we wanted to start conference play on a good note. Yes, we wanted to beat the No. 6 team in the country, but the biggest part tonight was don't lose at home," Adkins said. "You can't lose conference home games and expect to win the conference ... You go on the road and anybody can lose."

CU (13-4, 1-0 MSC) travels to No. 13 Georgetown (13-3, 1-0 MSC) Saturday for a 4 p.m. game.

PHOTO GALLERY


BOX SCORE


SHORT BOX
Pikeville College (12-2 (0-1) NAIA #6)
Trevor Setty 2-10 1-2 5, Andre Thornton 1-2 0-0 2, Justin Hicks 2-9 1-2 6, Jonathan Clark 6-10 11-12 23, Josh Samarco 1-2 0-0 2, Ryan Whitaker 0-1 0-0 0, Kane Belcher 0-1 2-2 2, Adam Simmons 0-0 0-0 0, Chris Donald 3-6 1-2 7, Anthony Smith 4-7 2-5 10. Totals 19-48 18-25 57

Campbellsville University (13-4 (1-0) NAIA #21)
Justin Vitatoe 1-7 4-4 6, Nestor Colmenares 6-10 4-7 16, Jonas Bohm 0-1 0-0 0, Brett Crittenden 0-1 0-0 0, Leon Hart 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Benock 3-8 3-3 9, Shawn Savage 0-6 1-2 1, T.J. Bishop 8-15 3-4 26, JaVaughn Espritt 2-4 0-0 4, Joe Robinson 0-2 0-0 0, Caleb Harris 0-3 1-2 1. Totals 20-57 16-22 63
 

SCORE BY PERIODS	1st	2nd	TOTAL
Pikeville College	28	29	57
Campbellsville University	32	31	63

FG%: Pikeville College .396, Campbellsville University .351. 3-pt FG:Pikeville College 1-8 (Setty 0-2, Hicks 1-5, Samarco 0-1), Campbellsville University 7-27 (Vitatoe 0-5, Benock 0-2, Savage 0-5, Bishop 7-13, Espritt 0-1, Harris 0-1). Rebounds: Pikeville College 28 (Clark 6, Smith 6), Campbellsville University 45 (Colmenares 18). Fouls Pikeville College 20, Campbellsville University 19. Fouled out: none. Technical: none. Assists: Pikeville College 3 (Setty 1, Clark 1, Whitaker 1), Campbellsville University 12 (Espritt 3). Steals: Pikeville College 4 (Setty 1, Hicks 1, Clark 1, Smith 1), Campbellsville University 2 (Colmenares 1, Savage 1). Blocked shots: Pikeville College 3 (Clark 1, Donald 1, Smith 1), Campbellsville University 2 (Vitatoe 1, Colmenares 1). Turnovers: Pikeville College 10, Campbellsville University 13. Attendance: 525.