Williamsburg, KY - Jahi Hinson put together his strongest offensive performance as a Patriot against Campbellsville on UC's way to winning their first MSC contest of the season Saturday evening on Randy Vernon Court. Hinson led Cumberlands to the 72-66 win over the Tigers, moving the Patriots to 6-2 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
The junior got off to a fast start, scoring 12 points in the opening seven minutes of play and he never looked back from there as he scored a career-high 32 points while pitching in nine rebounds. It marked just the second time in his career that he netted atleast 25 points in a game and the first since December 30, 2018 when he scored 25 against Xavier. Matt Cromer also set a career-high for points in this matchup as he finished with 10 points. Cromer slashed his way to the rim and put himself in good position to finish when he got there, going 3-5 from the field while knocking down all four of his chances from the charity stripe.
UC was able to get off to a fast start as they found themselves with a double-digit lead with just six minutes off the clock after a Hinson three made it a 17-7 game. Hinson was the prime reason for Cumberlands' hot start as he scored ten of the Patriots' 17 points on 4-5 shooting with a pair of those shots coming from deep. The team overall shot 7-10 in that span with J.J. Ramey knocking down a triple while Collin Kelley and Steven Fitzgerald were able to get in close to the basket. The Tigers battled back to tie up the score at 21-21 with 8:21 remaining in the open half of play. Campbellsville was not content to just tie things up as they went on to take the lead and extend it out to nine points. The Tigers had found a rhythm and were rolling down the stretch of the first half with their biggest lead coming with 4:35 remaining in the half as they held the 32-23 advantage. The Tigers' lead would hang around nine for the majority of the remainder of the opening stanza until UC closed the half on a 7-2 run to give them some momentum heading to the locker room. Isaiah Payton nailed a three with 1:37 remaining to cut the deficit to six before a Steven Fitzgerald layup helped cut the deficit to 36-32 heading into the half.
It was a back-and-forth affair when play resumed as the teams traded buckets for the first four and half minutes of the second half. Lamar Harris fired the opening salvo of the final 20 minutes of action with a dunk off the feed from Steven Fitzgerald. UC looked to grab the momentum off of the high-energy play, but Campbellsville held steady as they had an answer for what the Patriots threw at them. UC got back-to-back buckets on a dunk from Austin Hall off of the assist from Hinson, who made a tough layup on Cumberland's next possession, making it a 42-42 game with 15:26 remaining. The Patriots then went on a 20-14 run to help them grab their largest lead of the second half as they looked to begin to put away their opponent. After Hinson's layup to knot things up, UC shot 7-15 from the floor with six of their seven makes coming from within the painted area as Cumberlands looked to pound the ball inside. Their one make that did not come from within was the final shot of that stretch as Hinson's third triple of the game which give the Patriots a 62-56 lead with just under six minutes left to go. After Campbellsville cut the lead to one, Comer laid the ball in off a slick pass from Payton on the back door cut which was followed by a Hinson layup to extend the lead to 66-61 with 3:04 remaining. A minute later, Payton then found himself on a backdoor feed from Fitzgerald a minute later as he was able to float one over the defense. Cumberlands tallied the final four points of the game as Cromer sunk a pair of free throws to give him his first double-digit scoring performance in a Patriots uniform and his team the victory.
Cumberlands will look to end their longest home stand of the season on a high note as they prepare to host Simmons College next. The Patriots will look to move to 4-0 all time against the Falcons on Friday, November the 26th with tip-off set for 2:00 p.m.
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