DUE WEST, South Carolina - The University of Mount Olive men's basketball team falls short to the Flying Fleet of Erskine College 63-62 on Friday afternoon in Conference Carolinas men's basketball action. UMO falls to 2-7, 2-7 on the season, while Erskine improves to 2-4, 2-4.

INSIDE THE SCORE
Mount Olive fell behind early as Erskine scored the first five points of the contest before Johnny Hughes III made a three-point jumper to stop the momentum. It didn't take long for the Flying Fleet to find their hot hand as they went on a 19-7 run to take the 24-10 lead at the 11:53 mark. EC remained in the lead until the 1:16 mark when Johnny Hughes III made one free throw to tie the game 30-30. Mount Olive had a 31-30 lead after Hughes second free throw was good, but Erskine ended taking the 32-31 lead at the :49 mark. Mount Olive couldn't get one more basket in before the horn leaving the Flying Fleet leading by one going into the half. 

The second half the Trojans scored the first four points of the contest as Alan Treakle made a layup and added two free throws on top of that.The Flying Fleet responded quickly with a layup by Travis Walters to their the game 34-34 with 19:23 remaining left in the game. EC found their momentum as they went on a 8-2 run to take the six point lead 42-36 at the 16:31 mark. The Trojans were finally able to stop the run with two free throw by Quishaun Brevard to take the lead 55-54 with 3:03 remaining left in the game. The game for the remainder of the half became a back-and-forth battle with the two teams exchanging leads of no more than three. Erskine held a lead in the last twenty-nine seconds and took home the 63-62 victory.

MOUNT OLIVE LEADERS
The Trojans were led by Johnny Hughes III with 18 points and eight rebounds. Cole Johnson also added double-digit points with 11.

ERSKINE LEADERS
The Flying Fleet were led by Justin Morton 12 points.

KEY MOMENT
The key moment of the game came in the final seconds of the game when the Flying Fleet held on the lead to take home the 63-62 victory. 

UP NEXT
Mount Olive will back in conference action tomorrow in Due West, S.C., February 6th facing Erskine College for game two at 4 P.M.