TIGERVILLE, South Carolina - The University of Mount Olive men's basketball team defeated the Crusaders of North Greenville University 91-81 Saturday. This win takes the Trojans to 8-4 overall and 7-1 in Conference.

INSIDE THE SCORE

The Trojans started strong taking the first three points of the contest from Cole Johnson 3-0 with 18:58 remaining. The UMO lead was not held for long as the Crusaders took a one-point lead 7-6 with 16:29 remaining. The Mount Olive offense took control and jumped out to a six-point lead with two free throws from Jeremiah Phifer 16-10 with 11:52 remaining in the first half. Within the next minute of regulation, the Trojans rallied off a 14 point lead via free throws and increased the lead to 24-10 with 10:07 remaining. The Trojans remained in control for the remainder of the half, not allowing the crusaders to come within nine. UMO headed into halftime with an 11-point lead 44-33. 

UMO came out of the first half with a dunk from Matthias Caver, increasing their lead to 13 46-33. Another basket from Matthias Caver gave Mount Olive the most significant lead of the night at 16 52-36, with 18:28 remaining in the contest. Darius Spragley visited the free-throw line to add two more points for the Trojans moments later, increasing their lead to 19 61-42. The Crusaders could only come within four of the Trojans for the remainder of the contest as UMO took the 10 point victory 91-81.

MOUNT OLIVE LEADERS

Matthias Caver led the Trojans with 19 points and 14 rebounds, while Alan Treakle took home seven assists, and 16 points. 

CRUSADERS LEADERS

The Crusaders were led by Jacob Redding with 22 points and six rebounds.

KEY STAT

The Trojans took advantage of rebounding as they had 46, while the Crusaders had 37.

UP NEXT

Mount Olive will return to Kornegay Arena as they take on Barton College on January 11th at 7:00 PM.