Darrell Patterson scored a career-high 28 points - his third career high in four games - and Mount Olive withstood a late rally as the Trojans defeated Wingate 83-78 in non-conference men's basketball Wednesday at Kornegay Arena. The win snapped the Trojans' six-game losing skid.
Mount Olive (2-7) took its biggest lead at 62-47 with 13:13 left in the game as Patterson scored the first seven points in a 10-1 Trojan run. Wingate answered with an 11-0 run over the next four minutes to cut the Trojans' lead to four, sparked by a trio of three-pointers. A pair of free throws by Patterson ended Mount Olive's scoring drought and Dontrell Brite's 12-foot jumper in the lane gave the Trojans a 70-61 lead with 5:56 remaining.
Wingate (5-4) went on another run as Ryan Daye converted a three-point play and Deion Turman put home a slam dunk to pull the Bulldogs within 70-68 with 4:26 left to play. The Trojans hit 4-of-6 free throws and Dory Hines found Mahamed Ibrahim alone under the basket as Mount Olive extended its lead to 76-68 with 2:23 left. Wingate committed turnovers on back-to-back possessions during the Trojans' run.
The Bulldogs made it a two-possession game again on Odell Turner's dunk, but Mount Olive answered as Kendall Hargrove faked a dunk and put the ball in high off the glass to give the Trojans an eight-point lead again with 1:47 remaining.
Wingate got within six on three occasions in the final 76 seconds, but Mount Olive answered each time. Ibrahim sank a pair of free throws with 1:04 left, Jordan McCain hit a layup with 23 seconds remaining and Patterson's free throw with 10 seconds left made it a three-possession game. The Bulldogs got a layup with one second left for the final margin.
The first eight minutes of the game saw nine lead changes and three ties before Wingate took what would be its biggest lead of the contest at 14-11. Hines drive and wrap-around pass led to a layup by McCain to give Mount Olive a 15-14 lead with 11:14 left in the first half and the Trojans would never trail again.
Wingate tied the game 19-19 with 9:26 left on Paidrick Matilus' three-pointer, but Patterson's three-point play broke the tie and put Mount Olive ahead for good. Brite's three-pointer with 1:49 left gave Mount Olive its first double-digit lead at 40-29 and Patterson's three-pointer with 54 seconds remaining gave the Trojans a 43-34 advantage at the break.
The margin stayed in single digits until Patterson's three-pointer with 17:16 left in the contest gave Mount Olive a 52-41 lead.
Patterson hit three 3-pointers, was 8-for-14 from the field and 9-for-11 from the free throw line. Patterson is averaging 23 points per contest in his last four games, including a 23-point performance Saturday against Coker and 22 points December 6 against USC Aiken.
Ibrahim finished with 14 points and three blocked shots for Mount Olive, while McCain added 13 points. Hines dished out nine assists to go with six points and a team-high six rebounds. Freshman Dominique Reed, who was making his first start of the season, recorded a career-high four blocked shots. Caleb Henderson contributed a game-high four steals as the Trojans converted 21 Wingate turnovers into 27 points.
Daye led Wingate with 22 points on 7-of-9 shooting, while Matilus added 21 points. Turman added 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Ethan Kincaid dished out seven assists for the Bulldogs.
Mount Olive is off until December 30 when the Trojans play host to Augusta State in the final game of the calendar year. Tip-off is 4 p.m. at Kornegay Arena. All of the Trojans' remaining contests after the first of the year are Conference Carolinas games.