Dontrell Brite reached the career 1,000-point mark as nationally 12th-ranked University of Mount Olive extended its school record winning streak to 13 with an 87-69 victory over Belmont Abbey College in Conference Carolinas men's basketball Saturday at Belmont, N.C. With the win, the Trojans clinched at least a share of the regular season conference championship for the second straight year.
Brite, a junior point guard from Chesapeake, Va., entered Saturday's contest with 997 career points. He scored a field goal less than 90 seconds into the game and eclipsed the 1,000-point mark on a three-pointer with 17:17 left in the first half. Brite, who played only 19 minutes, finished with 13 points on 6-for-7 shooting to give him 1,010 points for his career.
Mount Olive (24-2 overall, 17-1 Conference Carolinas) held an eight-point lead before breaking the game open with 24 unanswered points during the final nine minutes of the first half. JaQuan Blount's layup pushed the lead to double figures to stay and the lead reached the 20-point mark at 38-18 after Kendall Hargrove sank a pair of free throws with 6:06 left before halftime.
Blount added a putback and two free throws and Tayon Gleaves' basket with 1:40 remaining to cap the scoring run and give the Trojans a 50-18 lead. Gleaves hit a layup with six seconds just before Ray Chen hit a jumper at the buzzer for Belmont Abbey (2-23, 1-16) as Mount Olive went into the locker room with a 57-24 halftime lead.
The margin grew to as many as 38 points in the second half.
Mount Olive's "magic number" is one to clinch the regular season title outright and the No. 1 seed in the Conference Carolinas Tournament. The Trojans hold a 2 1/2 game lead over second place King. Mount Olive can clinch with a win in its final two games or a King loss in one of the Tornado's final three games.
Blount finished with 12 points and Mike Moore scored 11 points, while Gleaves and Emmanuel Patton added 10 points apiece. Patton was making his first collegiate start. Brite also recorded game highs of five assists and four steals.
Belmont Abbey was led by Deion Lane with a game-high 29 points.
Mount Olive returns to action Thursday as the Trojans play host to Emmanuel in a Conference Carolinas match-up. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m. at Kornegay Arena.