MOUNT OLIVE, North Carolina - The University of Mount Olive men's basketball team fell to the Patriots of Francis Marion on Tuesday to open up Conference Play. This loss takes the Trojans to 1-4 overall and 0-1 in Conference.

INSIDE THE SCORE
Mount Olive took the first three points of the contest up 3-0 with 19:24 left in the half. The Patriots then took over the momentum as they gained a 13-point lead 21-8 with 12:25 remaining on the first half.  UMO could not find an answer for Francis Marion, as the Patriots took a 14-point lead heading into the halftime 42-28.

The second half saw the Patriots score the first three points of the half. Mount Olive pulled to within nine of the Patriots with 17:42 remaining in the contest. The Mount Olive defense held off the Patriots momentarily, while they brought the score to within four 64-60 with 7:30 remaining. The UMO defense, however, had no answer for the Patriots as Francis Marion took the 10 point victory 84-74. 

MOUNT OLIVE LEADERS
Matthias Caver led the Trojans with 18 points and 10 rebounds while Alan Treakle took home 18 points.

PATRIOTS LEADERS
The Patriots were led by Jonah Pierce with 23 points.

KEY STAT
The Patriots capitalized on points in the paint as they had 54 while the Trojans only had 32.

COACHES COMMENTS
"We definitely did not come out ready to play tonight.  That's my job as the coach to get them ready and I've got to do better.  We will take a few days off for thanksgiving and get back to work," said Head Coach Joey Higginbotham. 

UP NEXT
Mount Olive will hit the road as they take on Converse University on November 30th at 7:00PM.