Campbellsville, KY – The Patriots came from behind to defeat the Midway University Eagles at the Campbellsville Classic on Saturday. UC trailed at the half but came out with a great defensive effort the second half, holding the Eagles to just 24 points to take the v77-66 victory. Cumberlands move to 4-0 on the season.
 
Jonathan Brown lit up the stat sheet with 22 pts, 5 reb, 5 asst, and 3 stl. Matthew Cromer continued to impress as well with 21 points while Robertas Jonaitis added 11. J.J. Ramey netted nine points, Brady Bell scored eight, and DJ Jones finished with six to round out the Patriot scorers.
 
Jonaitis started the game hot, scoring UC's first six points. A three from Brown made it 10-9 Eagles after four minutes of play. Midway would go on a 10-2 run to take a nine-point lead. A Ramey FT and ten points out of Cromer cut UC's deficit to three. MU responded with a jumper before Brown nailed his second triple of the game. Bell knocked down a three-pointer with seven minutes on the clock followed by a pair of Jones FT's. They couldn't quite get over the hump as Midway hit a three to extend their lead to four with 6:17 left. The Pats outscore their opponents 9-8 over the remainder of the half, but still trailed 42-39 after the first 20 minutes of play.
 
Midway opened the second half with a jumper before a couple of Jonaitis free throws and a Bell three tied things up at 44-44. Brown would knock down another three the next possession to give UC the lead. A Midway basket cut the lead back to one before Cromer knocked down a pair of shots on back-to-back plays. Ramey followed with a layup of his own to give UC a seven-point advantage with 14:09 remaining.
 
MU cut the Patriot lead to two before Bell knocked down a jumper and Jones got a steal and scored on the fastbreak to increase it back to six. The Eagles would respond with seven straight points to take the lead from UC. Both teams went back and forth over the next three minutes before a Brown layup tied the game at 63-63. This sparked a 12-0 Pats run which featured five points from Cromer, four from Ramey, and three off a Jonathan Brown and-one. This put UC up 75-63 with less than a minute to play. MU would hit a three with 40 seconds on the clock but were then forced to foul. Cromer knocked down both free throws, and the Patriots took their fourth win of the season 77-66.
 
UC will have a day off before traveling to Greenville, TN for an exhibition matchup with NCAA D-II Tusculum. Tip-off is scheduled for 11 AM.
 
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