Campbellsville, KY – The Patriots opened the Campbellsville Classic with a win over the Brescia University Bearcats on Friday evening. UC took the contest 89-70 and outscored their opponents 48-28 in the paint.
 
Matthew Cromer led all UC's scorers with 19 points and six rebounds while Anthony Johnson and Brady Bell added 15 points each. Johnson added seven assists and six rebounds while Bell knocked down four threes against the Bearcats. Robertas Jonaitis finished with 14 pts, 9 reb, and 5 ast to round out the Patriots in double figures for the night.
 
The Patriots jumped out to a quick 13-0 lead over the first three minutes of play behind a pair of buckets from Jonaitis, back-to-back Bell threes and a DJ Jones triple. Another jumper from Jones and four more Jonaitis points pushed the lead to 16 before seven straight points from Cromer brought the score to 26-6 with just under 12 minutes to play in the half.
 
Buckets from Ryan Davidson and Tajahri Cave kept the UC lead at 20 prior to another nice move from Jones and Bell's third three of the half extended the lead to 35-14. Cumberlands outscored the Bearcats 17-7 over the final six minutes of the half.  Davidson added six points while Johnson scored four points in the paint. A pair of free throws from Tanner Walton and five more Cromer points brought he score to 52-21 going into the locker room.
 
The opening six minutes of the second half saw both teams go back and forth until a Walton layup put UC up 30. Two more layups out of Johnson and Cromer made it 70-39 followed by a Johnson triple from deep to put Cumberlands up 34 points. An 11-0 Bearcat run brought the score back to 73-50 with just over ten minutes to play. Bell stopped the run with a fastbreak layup followed quickly by a Cromer three to put the Pats back on top by 28. Walton hit UC's 10^th three pointer of the game to go up 33 while Jeremiah Godfrey added a late basket as the Pats took the victory, 89-70.
 
UC move to 8-0 on the season and will be back in action tomorrow as they take on Spartanburg Methodist College at 1 PM ET.
 
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