Williamsburg, KY – 11 Patriots scored in UC's blowout victory over the Virginia Lynchburg Dragons on Friday night. Cumberlands took their first game of the Cumberlands Classic 105-64 to move to 5-0 on the season.
 
Tajahri Cave and Jonathan Brown led UC's scorers with 17 points. Cave added seven rebounds and five assists as well. Matthew Cromer added 16 pts, 5 reb. while Ryan Davidson and Tanner Walton rounded out the Patriots in double digits with 15 and 14 points each. Cave and Walton put up career best points in the contest while Justin Sharp and Brayden Long scored the first points in their collegiate careers.
 
The Patriots came out on fire from three as Brown knocked down four triples to go along with Cromer and Robertas Jonaitis buckets to take a 16-0 lead. The Dragons got on the board with back-to-back buckets before Brady Bell knocked down a jumper and Brown hit his fifth three in five minutes to go up 21-4.
 
UC continued their hot streak, going on an 18-10 run over the next six minutes, capped off by a nice slam from Brown his 17^th point of the half. This stretch saw a pair of Cromer threes as well as wells as baskets from Cave and J.J. Ramey. Three straight layups from Walton, DJ Jones, and Bell increased UC's lead to 28 with eight minutes to play in the half. VUL responded with seven straight points before Cromer quieted the run with another three and a mid-range jumper on straight possessions. The final five minutes of the half saw five points from Cave, and and-one out of Ramey, and a nice finish from Davidson to give UC a 61-31 advantage at the break.
 
The second half was more of the same for the Pats, as Bell came out scoring the opening five points to increase the lead to 35. Both teams traded baskets over the following six minutes as the score came to 81-46 with 12:14 left, still a Patriot 35-point advantage. A dunk and three from Davidson and another strong finish from Cave increased the lead to 37 with just under 10 to play.
 
Brayden Long got in on the action, scoring his first points in college while getting fouled. The following possession Justin Sharp did just the same, scoring a layup through contact for his first collegiate points as well. Long wasn't finished, knocking down another jumper to put the Pats up 40. With seven minutes left, Walton went off for seven more points, including a fancy and-one finish before the final buzzer sounded with UC up 105-64.
 
Cumberlands will be back tomorrow for the final game of the Cumberlands Classic. The Patriots will faceoff with the UT Southern Firehawks at 3 PM ET. Live video will be available here with live stats here.

For the latest and most up-to-date information on University of the Cumberlands Athletics. Please visit www.cumberlandspatriots.com. Follow us on Twitter- @UC_Patriots and @UCPatsGameday, Instagram- @UCPatriots, TikTok- @ucpatriots, Youtube- Cumberlands Patriots, and Facebook by searching University of the Cumberlands Athletics.