MOUNT OLIVE, North Carolina - The University of Mount Olive men's basketball team defeated the Patriots of Francis Marion University 98-95 on Thursday. This win takes the Trojans to 14-12 overall and 13-9 in Conference. The win secures the Trojan men the 5th seed in the Conference Carolinas Tournament. 

INSIDE THE SCORE

UMO started off strong wih a 16-6 lead to open up the first half of play. The Trojans remained in control as they continued their 10-point lead 20-10. A Trojan 26-14 lead forced a Patriot timeout with 12:01 remaining. The Trojans extended their lead to 12 with 11:18 remaining 26-14. Francis Marion answered with momentum run taking the lead at the 6:50 mark. The dominating Trojan offense regained the lead 45-41 with 3:44 remaining in the first half. Mount Olive closed out the first half 54-49. 

The Patriots came out strong in the second half taking the lead 61-58 with 15:68 remaining. The second half was all Patriots as they increased their lead to nine 69-60. The Mount Olive defense stopped the Patriots and come within one of Francis Marion 72-71 with 8:35 remaining. UMO regained the lead over the Patriots 77-74 with 6:07 remaining. With less than a minute remaining Francis Marion had a two-point lead 84-82. UMO hit a three-pointer with 10.6 seconds remaining to cut the Patriot lead to one 86-85. The Trojans answered with a layup to tie the contest at 87 with 0.3 remaining.

The two Conference Carolinas teams went into overtime where Mount Olive took an early 90-89 lead. The Trojans held onto the one point lead with 23.1 seconds remaining 93-92. The Trojans held on and took the 98-95 victory in overtime. 

MOUNT OLIVE LEADERS

Darius Spragley led the Trojans with 27 points, while Jeremiah Phifer had 13 points.    

PATRIOTS LEADERS

The Patriots were led by Alex Cox with 20 points.

UP NEXT

Mount Olive will return to Kornegay arena to open up the Conference Championship Tournament on February 28th as they take on the winnder of King vs Francis Marion at 7:00PM.