Williamsburg, KY - The #11 Patriots men's basketball team lead wire-to-wire to defeated (RV) Freed-Hardeman Lions 71-64 Saturday afternoon at Randy Vernon Court. With the win, the Patriots improve 11-4 overall and 5-4 in the MSC, while the Lions move to 8-2 overall and 3-1 in the MSC.

Leading the way for Patriot scorers was Tevin Olison with 19 points, three rebounds, and three steals, while Deng Mayot contributed 12 points, six rebounds, and three assists. Jahi Hinson put up 10 points, four rebounds, and two assists, and Steven Fitzgerald also scored 10 points while grabbing eight rebounds.

The Patriots opened the first half with a 15-4 run, with a thunderous block by Lamar Harris at 12:15 mark that allowed the Patriots to really get into their offense. Fitzgerald cashed in a three-point play followed by a three-pointer to enlarge the lead to 23-14 with 6:57 remaining. Back-to-back contested threes by Olison with 3:16 remaining widened the Patriots lead to 31-22. The Lions went on an 9-2 run to close out the first half, which included a John Musselwhite three, Freed-Hardeman first three-pointer of the game, and cut UC's lead to 33-30 heading into the break.  Olison would lead all UC scorers for the first half with eight points and Isaiah Thompson and Steven Fitzgerald both tallied six points.

Coming out of halftime, a tough contested jumper by Jahi Henson would heighten the Patriots' lead to 39-35 with 16:41 remaining in the second half. Following a tenacious drive to the rack by Olison, Deng Mayot made a triple of his own to expand the Cumberlands lead to 49-41 with 13:17 remaining. Coming out of a timeout, Olison drained back-to-back three's to put the Patriots up 59-53 with 7:46 left in the half. After a strong showing on defense that led to a transition opportunity, Mayot converted on a tough layup that extended UC's lead to 64-55 with 3:54 remaining. Following a Lion's foul that allowed UC to set up some baseline offense, Ismiell Etienne had a monstrous dunk that put the Patriots 68-60 with 1:10 left in the game. In the closing seconds of the game, Olison sunk a free throw that pushed the Patriots over the Lions to close the game at 71-64.

Cumberlands stifling defense limited the Lions, who came out into the game averaging 91.3 ppg to their lowest offensive output of the season. In addition, UC limited Freed-Hardeman, who came into the came averaging 13 made three's per contest, to 4-20 from deep.  Additional UC out-rebounded the Lions 36-31.

The Patriots will head to Lebanon, TN to battle Cumberland University on Thursday, January 14 at 9 PM. Live video of the game can be found here, while live stats can be found here.

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