FLORENCE, S.C. (Feb. 22) – After shooting 57.1 percent from the field in the second half, the University of Mount Olive men's basketball team closed out the regular season with an 89-82 win at Francis Marion on Wednesday night in Conference Carolinas action.
With the win, the Trojans finished the regular season with an 11-17 overall record with a 9-11 mark in league play. Mount Olive has swept the season series against Francis Marion for the second-straight year while winning four of the last five meetings. UMO enters the league tournament as the No. 8 seed and will face Lees-McRae in Murfreesboro, North Carolina, on the campus of Chowan on Sunday, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m. Meanwhile, the Patriots concluded the season with a six-game skid and fall to 13-13 this year with a 10-10 record in conference action.
Senior
Michael Brown delivered a team-high 26 points on 8-of-11 shooting while converting 9-of-11 from the free-throw line. He also totaled eight rebounds, six assists, and two steals in 40 minutes of action. Brown achieved another career milestone in the victory on Wednesday, surpassing 1,500 career points at Mount Olive.
Fellow senior
Trayvon Ferrell collects his third double-double of the year after producing 16 points on 7-of-13 attempts with 10 rebounds in 27 minutes. Freshman
Ryan Roberts dropped 13 points on five-of-nine shots with three made from beyond the arc while playing 23 minutes. Teammate
Shane Peterson also produced an effective game with eight points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals in 28 minutes.
In the first half, Mount Olive established a 10-6 advantage in the initial four minutes of the game after converting four-of-eight from the field. The Patriots countered with an 11-4 run behind a trio of three-pointers to take a 17-14 lead with 12:11 remaining. Over the next two minutes, the Trojans countered with a 10-4 rally, led by freshman
Aaron Murphy with five points, to regain a 24-21 edge. Francis Marion answered with a 15-3 run stretching over three-plus minutes to take a 36-27 advantage. In the final 6:16 of the first half, UMO trimmed the deficit to 47-42 heading into the break after Brown scored nine points.
The Patriots extended their lead to 60-48 in the opening minutes of the second half before Mount Olive responded with back-to-back three-pointers from freshman
Colin Radcliffe and Roberts. With Francis Marion ahead 72-63 with 10:43 left, the Trojans mounted a massive 18-2 rally on 6-of-11 shooting to grab an 81-74 edge while the Patriots made just one shot over a span of six-plus minutes. Francis Marion cut the deficit to three points at 81-78 with 1:29 left before UMO secured the win at the charity stripe, 89-82.
UMO finished the contest shooting 51.6 percent (32-of-62) from the floor while converting 9-of-26 (36.0 percent) from three-point range. Meanwhile, Francis Marion posted a .479 field goal percentage (34-of-71) and made 7-of-10 (70.0 percent) from the charity stripe. The Trojans held a 37-35 rebounding advantage with 44 points in the paint, while the Patriots totaled 19 bench points.
Senior Bryce Beamer scored a game-high 30 points on 11-of-22 shooting with 14 rebounds in 36 minutes of action. Graduate student Alex Cox finished with 24 points on 11-of-17 attempts with seven rebounds, two steals, and one block, while sophomore Farid SaintCyr added 10 points and three rebounds in the loss.
The Trojans return to action on Sunday, Feb. 26, when they travel to Murfreesboro, North Carolina, for the opening round of the Atlantic Casualty Conference Carolinas Championship versus No. 9 seeded Lees-McRae, starting at 7 p.m.
