Georgetown, KY - A slow first half proved to be too tough to overcome for the Cumberlands men's basketball team, who fell to #13 Georgetown 81-60 Saturday afternoon. The Tigers improve to 18-3 on the season, while the Patriots move to 13-9.
Jahi Hinson led the way for the Patriots as he finished with a team-high 16 points with five rebounds and a trio assist to his line. Hinson was backed up by J.J. Ramey, who had 10 points in the contest thanks to a 3-5 line while going 2-2 from the free throw line. Steven Fitzgerald had his hands all over this one as well with the junior guard just missing out on a double-double, finishing with nine points and a team-leading eight boards.
UC stormed out to an early lead as they found themselves ahead 9-2 just three minutes into the ball game. Hinson got things started with a mid-range make before J.J. Ramey got the fast break layup to make it a 4-0 game. Hinson drained his second shot of the game with Fitzgerald following with a made three-pointer to move UC ahead by seven. Georgetown responded with six unanswered to pull within one before an Austin Hall dunk extended the Patriots lead to 11-8. From that point the Tigers went on a 26-6 run, over a nine minute span, to take control. Georgetown looked to pound it inside during their extended run as six of their nine makes during the stretch came in the paint. UC didn't quite have any answers for what their counterpart was doing on the inside, leading to a 34-17 lead for the home team with 4:08 to go in the opening half. UC played their counterpart even in the final four minutes and change as they looked to keep pace with the Tigers. Hinson proved big for the Patriots during that time, scoring five straight points for Cumberlands with a triple being followed by a mid-range to make it a 41-24 game at the break.
The Patriots made second half adjustments as five players scored at least five points over the final 20 minutes. Ramey got things started for Cumberlands with a three-pointer on their opening possession of the half. Two minutes later, an Isaiah Payton layup sparked a 10-2 run, with five different Patriots scoring to cut the deficit to 49-37 with 14:54 remaining. UC relied on the three-pointer to keep the game within reach as Fitzgerald and Payton each hit from long-range as Cumberlands was trailing 56-45 midway through the second half. Hinson dished out an assist to Collin Kelley for three, before draining a jumper of his own bringing the Patriots within eight at 58-50 with 7:45 remaining.
The eight-point lead for Georgetown proved to be a little too close for comfort as they went on an 11-2 run to extend their lead back out to 69-52 with 5:14 to go. The Tigers went back to looking inside and it proved to be a good strategy with their remaining six makes all coming in the paint. Georgetown's interior offensive game proved to be too much for the Patriots to handle and the Tigers used that to continue to stay ahead and take home the 21-point win.
Cumberlands will have a quick turnaround with the Patriots set to return to action Monday, January 31st, against Lindsey Wilson. UC will trade to Crestview Hills to take on the Blue Raiders with tip-off set for 7:00 p.m.
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