Dory Hines dished out 10 assists, while freshman John Wieland set a career high and was one of four Trojans to score 13 points as Mount Olive extended its home winning streak to seven with a 95-74 victory over Lees-McRae in Conference Carolinas men's basketball Saturday at Kornegay Arena. Deshaune Green, Mahamed Ibrahim and Darrell Patterson also finished with 13 points apiece as the Trojans celebrated the 30th Annual Basketball Church Night in front of a crowd of 1,024.
Mount Olive (11-9 overall, 8-6 Conference Carolinas) jumped out to a 14-3 lead as Ibrahim hit a pair of three-pointers in a span of 13 seconds during a 12-0 run. Lees-McRae (2-18, 2-12) got as close as eight points on Asad Lamont's basket with 14:37 left in the first half, but Patterson's three-pointer gave the Trojans a 20-9 lead and the margin stayed in double figures the remainder of the contest.
The lead eclipsed the 20-point mark for the first time with 8:09 left in the half after Wieland and Ewon Wright connected on three-pointers just 24 seconds apart to give the Trojans a 37-16 advantage. The lead reached 30 points after Kendal Hargrove's layup made the score 51-21 with 3:54 remaining. Hargrove had a steal and a one-handed dunk on the right side and Mount Olive went into the locker room with a 57-34 halftime lead.
Mount Olive's first-half total topped its scoring output for the entire game in the Trojans' 68-55 loss Wednesday at Queens.
In the second half, Mount Olive's lead grew to as many as 32 points and never fell below the 20-point mark.
The Trojans were 32-for-59 from the field for a season-high 54.2 percent. Patterson and Wieland each hit three 3-pointers. Hines was Mount Olive's top rebounder with five boards as 13 of the 14 Trojans who played Saturday pulled down at least one rebound.
Lamot led all players with 15 points off the bench for Lees-McRae. Daniel Sepokas added 14 points and a game-high seven rebounds.
Mount Olive returns to action Wednesday as the Trojans play host to Coker in a Conference Carolinas match-up. Mount Olive fell 83-73 in the first meeting December 15 at Coker. The loss was the Trojans' first against Coker in more than a decade and ended a streak of 23 consecutive wins over the Cobras. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m. at Kornegay Arena and will be preceded by Trojan women's basketball vs. Coker at 5:30 p.m.