Williamsburg, KY – The Pats took down longtime rival Union Commonwealth Saturday afternoon behind a dominant defensive performance. UC earned the 88-71 win, forcing 22 turnovers and recording a season-best four blocks. Cumberlands took advantage of the Bulldog miscues, scoring 24 points off TO's while also outscoring UCU 28-26 in the paint.
 
Anthony Johnson got the job done on both sides of the court, finishing with 25 pts, 7 reb, 6 stls, 4 blks, and 4 asts, all were team highs. Matthew Cromer added 20 points and five rebounds off while DJ Jones went for 16 points ad three boards. Five other Patriots recorded a bucket as well with Ryan Davidson and Tajahri Cave scoring eight and seven points, respectively.
 
Union scored the first bucket of the game, taking their only lead of the game, before a three pointer from Cromer quickly put UC on top. A Jones jumper followed by a Johnson steal and and-one increased the lead to six after just two minutes of action. Johnson continued to dominate, hitting a pair of free throws and back-to-back threes to bring the score to 16-9 with 14:30 remaining.
 
The Bulldogs fought back to tie the game before another nice finish from Jones and another Cromer three put them back up by five. Davidson knocked down two FTs prior to Cromer's third triple of night made it 32-24 in UC's favor. The final five minutes saw a nice Brady Bell and one, a Cromer bucket off a Johnson steal, and a bucket by Davidson with just 12 seconds on the clock to give UC the 41-35 lead into the half.
 
Both teams went back and forth over the first eight minutes of the second half, with UC keeping a steady eight-point lead. Two more Cromer threes and a Johnson tip in pushed the lead to nine before a Cave and-one gave UC a double-digit advantage. The lead grew to 18 after five straight made free throws and a jumper from Robertas Jonaitis in the pain to make it 75-57 with 8:11 remaining.
 
Three straight layups out of Jones, Johnson, and Davidson and a Johnson slam dunk in transition kept the lead at 18 with just over a minute to play. A late Cromer three, his fifth of the game, gave UC the 88-69 lead for their largest of the night before the final buzzer sounded with the Patriots taking the victory 88-71.
 
Cumberlands move to 5-0 on the season and have now won 19 straight home games at the O. Wayne Rollins Center and Randy Vernon Court. The Pats will be back at home next week as they host their Cumberlands Classic, taking on IU Southeast on Thursday the 14^th at 5 pm ET.
 
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