Bowling Green, KY - The Patriots had been on a roll to begin the 2021-22 campaign, but were brought to a halt by Western Kentucky Friday night. Cumberlands was hoping to end their second week of action on a high note with a surprising win over the Hilltoppers, but to no avail. After hanging around in the first half, UC was overmatched after the halftime break on their way to the 88-59 loss.

Despite the defeat, there were some positives for the Patriots. J.J. Ramey put together another solid performance as he ended the game as Cumberlands' leading scorer with 16. His performance was a huge reason for UC being able to hang around early on as all 16 of his points came in the opening half, accounting for half of the team's points. 

Kamari Kenemore and Isaiah Payton were both bright spots for coach head Matt Daniel's team as well as they turned in solid efforts. Payton provided a spark in the second half from beyond the arc, hitting a trio of triples and finishing 3-6 from deep in the contest. Kenemore matched Payton with three long-range jumpers himself on his was to being UC's second leading scorer with 11 points on the night. Kenemore found himself involved on both sides of the ball more often than not as he had a team-high usage percentage of 29.77.

The game did not begin the way the Patriots wanted to as they found themselves down by double-digits just three and a half minutes into the contest. It wasn't until the 15:05 mark of the opening half that UC was able to get on the board as they found themselves down 12-3 in the early going. The Patriots did not give up, though, as they found a way to play the Hilltoppers dead even through the next 15 minutes.

Ramey acted as the catalyst for UC's offense in the first half as he was able to score 16 of the team's 32 points in the first half. He came off the bench and promptly unloaded a three to get Cumberlands on the board and was continually fed the ball. It ended up being the right move by coach Daniel as Ramey finished the opening stanza 6-7 from the floor while nailing all three of his attempts from deep.

UC's opportunistic defense in the final 15 minutes of the first half was another major reason for them being able to hang around as the Patriots forced the opposition to turn the ball over five times during that span. Cumberlands did not allow any easy baskets or passes as they swarmed to the ball, looking to force the issue. It panned out as the Patriots hounded their opponent and was able hang around down 41-32 heading to the locker room at the halftime break.

The second half saw the Hilltoppers put the Patriots away as UC was outscored 47-27. The first few minutes of the the final half of play went much like the majority of the first half as Cumberlands was able to stay within striking distance. Payton came out of the break strong as he canned the team's first two shots of the new half, draining a pair of threes. After that WKU went on a run to help put this one out of reach.

Western Kentucky went on a 24- 9 run from the 15:22 mark of the second half to just five minutes remaining in the game as they pulled ahead and never looked back. During that time, there was little UC could do to slow down their counterpart as the Hilltoppers shot 13-14 from the floor, making their first eight shots in the stretch. WKU used sharpshooting to do a lot of their damage during that run as they nailed half a dozen triples to give them a 25-point lead with just five minutes remaining in the game.

The final handful of minutes saw the Patriots doing all they could to salvage this one, but to no avail as they fell by a final of 88-59.

UC will look to rebound when they return to play as they take their home floor for the first time in 16 days when they play IU Southeast on November 11th. That game will be the team's first matchup of the Cumberlands Classic before the Patriots square off against Union on the 12th to close out the event. 

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