Mike Moore and John Wieland led six players in double figures with 17 points apiece as University of Mount Olive pulled away for a 100-79 victory over Lees-McRae College in Conference Carolinas men's basketball Tuesday at Kornegay Arena. The Trojans have scored at least 90 in five of their last six games, including two contests reaching the century mark.
In the first half, Tayon Gleaves' three-pointer just over three minutes into the contest put Mount Olive (14-9 overall, 9-6 Conference Carolinas) on top for the remainder of the game and the Trojans grabbed their first double-digit lead after Dominique Reed's three-point play made the score 20-10 with 13:31 left before halftime. Lees-McRae got as close as five points after a putback by Lepreece Lynch pulled the Bobcats within 29-24 with 7:44 remaining.
The Trojans answered with an 8-2 run without benefit of a field goal as Dontrell Brite, Jamaal Matin and Moore combined to go 8-for-8 from the free throw line over the next two minutes. The margin returned to double figures at 43-32 when Brite's diagonal bounce pass from beyond the arc found Matin, who hit a layup and converted a three-point play.
Three-pointers by Wieland and JaQuan Blount helped Mount Olive stretch the lead to as many as 14 points and the Trojans went into the locker room with a 46-34 advantage.
The margin never fell below 12 points in the second half and Wieland's three-pointer with 15:12 left to play pushed the Trojans' lead past the 20-point mark at 64-42. Wieland's fifth three-pointer of the contest gave Mount Olive its biggest lead at 76-49 with 10:29 remaining.
Lees-McRae (13-11, 9-5) made a late run, highlighted a right-handed windmill slam dunk by Darius Malbon. But the Bobcats never got closer than 19 points. Mount Olive reached the 100-point mark on Moore's 10-foot jumper in the paint with 1:05 remaining.
Reed finished with 16 points for Mount Olive, while Blount scored 12 points and Brite added 11 points to go with six rebounds, six steals and five assists. Jacque Brown finished with 12 points. Matin led all players with a career-high nine rebounds and dished out four assists. Moore shared game-high honors with five assists.
Austin Anderson was 4-for-7 from three-point range and led all players with 24 points for Lees-McRae. Malbon added 19 points off the bench for the Bobcats.
Mount Olive heads to Upstate South Carolina this weekend for a pair of Conference Carolinas contests. The Trojans are at Southern Wesleyan University Friday night and at Erskine College Saturday evening. Friday's game at Southern Wesleyan was originally scheduled for January 23, but was postponed due to snow in the Carolinas that weekend.