GAFFNEY, South Carolina - The University of Mount Olive men's basketball team fell in a close battle against the Saints of Limestone College 74-69 Thursday night in Conference Carolinas men's basketball action. UMO drops to 8-6, 2-4 on the season, while Limestone improves to 3-12, 2-5.
GAME INFORMATION
The game saw UMO end the first half on a 12-to-2 run and keep the contest close in the second half but.
INSIDE THE SCORE
The first bucket of the game was scored by the Saints of Limestone, but Mount Olive had an answer by the way of Darius Spragley and the game remained close for a while. The Saints did find a run midway through and expanded their lead to 16 with under 8:30 to play. Cameron Robinson helped Mount Olive draw to within five as the first half drew to a close with a 12-to-2 run highlighted by a Johnny Hughes III dunk the ended the half.
In the second half, Limestone gained the first points, however, UMO responded with five unanswered to bring the LC lead to 43-41. After a made Saints jumper Mount Olive with 15:34 came out of the media timeout scoring four straight points to take their first lead of the game at 48-47 with 14:46 remaining. The lead went onto be exchanged four more times and despite a 10-point run by the Trojans Limestone never surrendered the lead after the fourth time and held onto win the contest.
MOUNT OLIVE LEADERS
The Trojans were led by Johnny Hughes III with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Jonathan Mebane, Michael Brown, and Cameron Robinson also added double-digit points with 13, 12, and 11 points respectively.
LIMESTONE LEADERS
The Saints had four athletes in double figures but were led by Rudy Bibb-Boyd with a team-high 21 points.
KEY MOMENT
The key moment of the game came when Limestone was able to regain the lead for the final time and hold off the final UMO 10-0 run with five minutes left in the second half.
UP NEXT
Mount Olive will remain on the road as the Trojans travel to Bristol, Tenn. on January 4 to take on King University at 4 p.m.