CENTRAL, South Carolina - The University of Mount Olive men's basketball team defeated the Warriors of Southern Wesleyan University 77-71 in Conference Carolinas action Monday afternoon. UMO improves to 13-7 overall and 7-5 in conference, while Southern Wesleyan falls to 11-8, 7-4.

INSIDE THE SCORE
The contest was a close battle as neither team could take control as the game was tied seven times over a majority of the opening half until UMO broke the tie with a run at the 5:15 mark. Johnny Hughes II hit a jumper to start a 9-0 run to put the Trojans ahead 33-24. Southern Wesleyan picked up the final points of the half but were unable to knot the score as Mount Olive held a 40-33 lead heading into the break.

In the second half, Mount Olive continued to build off their lead, and with a six-point run sparked by back-to-back three-pointers by Jonathan Mebane, UMO led by double digits 63-50. SWU managed to crack the lead down to two at 70-68 with 2:30 remaining in the game, however, Mount Olive bounced back scoring four unanswered points to put the cushion back in the deficit for the Warriors. Mount Olive kept the lead for the remaining two minutes and held off any surge from Southern Wesleyan and took the final 77-71 victory on the road.

MOUNT OLIVE LEADERS
The Trojans were led by Alan Treakle with 16 points. Johnny Hughes III, Jonathan Mebane, Michael Brown, and Darius Spragley all had double-digit scoring performances with 13, 12, 11, and 10 points respectively.

SOUTHERN WESLEYAN LEADERS
The Warriors were led by Soloman Smith with a team-high 21 points. 

KEY MOMENT
The key moment of the game came in the opening half when the Trojans jumped out to a 33-24 lead on the backs of a 9-0 run that helped maintain a lead into the second half.

UP NEXT
Mount Olive will return to Kornegay Arena on January 25 for the annual Church Night games. The Trojans will take on Erskine College at 6 p.m. inside Kornegay Arena.