FLORENCE, S.C. (Mar. 3) – Despite outscoring their opponent in the second half, the University of Mount Olive men's basketball program had its comeback fall short in an 89-82 loss against No. 9 seed Belmont Abbey in the first round of the Atlantic Casualty Conference Carolinas Men's Basketball Championships on Sunday.
With the loss, the Trojans closed the season with a 7-22 overall record while posting a 6-12 record in league play this season. Belmont Abbey collects its fifth consecutive win over UMO since 2022 while boasting a 14-12 edge in the series since 2012. Meanwhile, the Crusaders improve to 12-17 this season and advance to play the No. 4 seed Francis Marion tomorrow, Monday, March 4, at 6 p.m.
Redshirt sophomore
Redford Dunton scored a team-high 18 points on 6-of-14 attempts with five rebounds, two assists, and one block in 32 minutes. Sophomore
Colin Radcliffe finished with 15 points behind four made three-pointers while tallying a pair of assists in 17 minutes off the bench. Fellow sophomore
Aaron Murphy contributed 10 points and two rebounds in 16 minutes, while freshman
Kennard Davis totaled nine points, six rebounds, seven assists, and five steals in 39 minutes.
The two sides traded baskets in the initial two-plus minutes of the contest before Radcliffe scored nine unanswered points to give UMO a 17-8 advantage at the 15:39 mark. Belmont Abbey responded with a 10-3 rally to cut the deficit to 20-18, but Mount Olive scored seven of the following nine points to maintain a 27-20 lead with 11:45 left. The Crusaders eventually closed the gap to one point before scoring nine straight points to take a 39-33 edge with 4:58 remaining. Belmont Abbey made 6-of-10 from the field to finish the first half with a 54-39 advantage.
After exchanging points for a majority of the second half, the Trojans mounted a 13-0 rally at the under 10-minute mark, led by Davis with five points, to trim the deficit to 76-73. With Belmont Abbey ahead by a 79-73 margin, Radcliffe nailed a three-pointer before freshman
Josiah Watkins made a layup to trail 79-78 with 2:21 left. The Crusaders made back-to-back baskets to hold an 83-79 lead, but Davis hit a pair of jumpers to close the gap to 83-82 with 1:13 to go. Belmont Abbey escaped the win after scoring the final six points, 89-82.
UMO shot at a 50.0 clip (28-of-56) from the floor while going 19-of-24 (79.2 percent) from the free-throw line. Meanwhile, Belmont Abbey finished the game shooting 48.4 percent (30-of-62) and converted 22-of-33 (66.7 percent) from the charity stripe. The Trojans finished with a 34-33 rebounding advantage with 27 bench points, while the Crusaders scored 42 points in the paint.
