Williamsburg, KY – UC knocked down 10 three-pointers and outscored Ohio Christian 34-18 in the paint in route to an 83-65 victory Wednesday night. The Patriots move to 2-0, winning their opening two games for the fourth straight season.
 
Matt Cromer filled up the stat sheet tonight for the Pats setting career highs in points and assists with 23 and 5 while also adding nine rebounds and three steals. J.J. Ramey netted 18 points while DJ Jones and Jonathan Brown had 13 and 12 each.
 
The Trailblazers jumped out to a quick 6-1 lead on Wednesday before Cromer scored 11 straight points off an and-one, layup, and a pair of three's. A Ramey three off of a Cromer assist gave UC a nine-point advantage with just over 13 minutes on the clock. OCU would fight to make it a three-point game before a couple of Ramey baskets and a Brown FT made it 20-12.
 
Another lay in from Ramey accompanied by a Brady Bell three and Cromer's second and-one of the night extended UC's lead to double digits with just over seven to play in the first. The Cumberlands lead would get all the way up to 22 off Bell's second made three of the half, but the Trailblazers ended the half on a 11-1 run to make it 41-29.
 
Jones started his hot second half with a jumper followed by a Robertas Jonaitis steal and slam to increase the lead to 16. Both teams traded baskets over the next nine minutes of play as the Pats lead was back at 16 with 8:49 on the clock. This span saw 6 points from Jones, several buckets out of Brown, and two more three-pointers from Ramey.  
 
A Cromer layup and another good jumper from Jones made it a 69-51 game but OCU would respond with a pair of free throws on the other end of the floor. The teams traded possessions again until back-to-back threes from Ramey and Cromer gave UC a 24-point lead, their largest of the night. The final three minutes of play saw a TJ Cave triple and the final buzzer sounded with UC winning 83-65.
 
The Patriots busy opening week continues this weekend when they travel to Campbellsville, KY for the Campbellsville Classic. They are set to take on IU Southeast at 5 PM on Friday and Midway at 2 PM Saturday.
 
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