Henderson, TN - Cumberlands men's basketball came into the regular season finale riding a season-high six-game win streak, however, the Patriots couldn't overcome a late run falling to Freed-Hardeman 87-75 Saturday afternoon. With the win the Lions improve to 18-11 and 13-9 against the MSC, while UC moves to 19-11 and 13-9 in conference play.
For the fourth game in a row, Steven Fitzgerald led the way in scoring for the Patriots with a game-high 22 points. Fitzgerald was able to be a consistent shooter throughout the contest, working his way past the 1,000 point mark to become the 26th Patriot to do so in program history. Isaiah Payton followed close behind with a season-high 20 points on 6-9 shooting from deep. Jahi Hinson and J.J. Ramey both ended up being key contributors as well with the tandem each scoring 15 points.
The first half was a neck-and-neck affair as the two teams traded the lead nine times in the first 20 minutes with five ties. Payton was the go-to scorer in the early going for the Patriots, scoring eight of their first 10 points, including opening the scoring with a three-pointer with another falling after a Hinson dunk to make it a 8-8 game with 16:39 to go. The Cincinnati, OH native added his seventh and eighth points of the opening five minutes in the paint, hitting a layup with 15:36 to go in the first half. Hinson tallied a hot streak of his own down the stretch of the opening half with seven straight points in a two minute span. That run of strong play began with a layup with 8:00 on the clock, making it an 18-18 game. He then hit a pair of free throws on UC's next possession with him rounding out his offensive explosion with a three-pointer off the feed from Payton to make it a 23-20 game with 6:12 to go until the halftime break.
Cumberlands to put some distance between themselves and the Lions in the final five minutes of the first half, going on a 15-7 run to take a six-point lead into the half. Fitzgerald began the run with a made layup with Ramey and Hinson following suit with paint makes of their own. The Patriots then extended their range out to three-point territory for their final two makes with Payton making his third triple of the first half while Fitzgerald canned the final shot of the stanza to make it 38-32.
Fitzgerald came out of the halftime break on an offensive roll of his own, with him scoring nine of the team's first 18 points of the second half. He kicked things off with a layup before draining a triple along with a adding a pair mid-range shots with the last making it a 55-49 game in favor of the Patriots with 10:48 to go. The final ten minutes of the game belonged to the Lions as they went on a 39-20 run after Fitzgerald's fourth make of the half to claim the win. Freed-Hardeman's shooting from deep made a major different late, hitting all of their attempts from beyond-the-arc during that stretch. Free throw shooting also proved to be a big reason for the run as they hit 13 in the second half with the final four coming in the last minute to seal the game.
Cumberlands will earn the fifth-seed in the MSC Tournament and will host Lindsey Wilson on Tuesday at Randy Vernon Court.
For the latest information on University of the Cumberlands Athletics please visit www.cumberlandspatriots.com. Follow us on Twitter- @UC_Patriots and @UCPatsGameday, Instagram- @UCPatriots, Youtube- Cumberlands Patriots, and Facebook by searching University of the Cumberlands Athletics.
