MOUNT OLIVE, North Carolina - The University of Mount Olive men's basketball team defeated the Bobcats of Lees-McRae College in an offensive slugfest Saturday afternoon inside Kornegay Arnea in Conference Carolinas men's basketball action. UMO improves to 10-7, 4-5 on the season, while Lees-McRae falls to 11-4, 4-3.
INSIDE THE SCORE
Lees-McRae grabbed the first seven points of the game forcing a Mount Olive timeout. The Trojans were able to stop the run with a made free-throw, but the LMC lead grew to ten at the 16:25 mark. The UMO offense finally got hot as Cameron Robinson and Jonathan Mebane combined for nine points, all from beyond-the-arch, to bring the Bobcats' lead down to one with 15:06 left in the half. The Trojans did tie the game almost two minutes later, and the game went onto exchange hands 12 times. Mount Olive took the lead for the final time with under three to play on the back of a six-point run to lead by four, 48-44. The Trojans scored the last points of the half and took a 53-47 lead into the break.
In the second half, the Trojans opened the half with four straight points to take a ten-point lead. Mount Olive had the lead up to 12, but LMC brought it back down to ten, however a big run was in the making for the home five. Darius Spragley, with 16:52, converted a layup to start a 9-0 run to propel the UMO lead to 69-50. The Trojan lead never fell below 15 until the 2:26 mark when the Bobcats converted a three-pointer to make the score 98-86. The closest Lees-McRae would manage was at the 1:36 mark when a three-pointer made the score 100-89, however, the Trojans closed the game out and took the final 105-90.
MOUNT OLIVE LEADERS
The Trojans were led by Darius Spragley with 21 points. Cameron Robinson, Johnny Hughes III, Michael Brown, and Jonathan Mebane also added double-digit points with 20, 16, 13, and 13 points respectively. Hughes III also had a double-double with 17 boards on the day.
LEES-MCRAE LEADERS
The Bobcats had three athletes in double figures but were led by Kamil Williams with a team-high 29 points.
KEY MOMENT
The key moment of the game came when Darius Spragley, with 16:52 in the second half, converted a layup to start a 9-0 run to propel the UMO lead to 69-50. The Trojan lead never fell below 15 until late in the game and it proved to be enough to hold off the charging Bobcats.
UP NEXT
Mount Olive will remain at Kornegay Arena on January 15 when the Trojans host Belmont Abbey College at 7:30 p.m.