Lebanon, TN – In their final MSC road contest of the year, the Patriots took down the Cumberland University Phoenix 88-74 to move to  24-3 on the season and pick up their ninth conference win of the season.
 
Six Pats ended the night with ten or more points, led once again by Anthony Johnson who dropped 19 points. This marks the fourth straight game that Johnson has been Cumberlands leading scorer. DJ Jones added 14 pts, 7 reb, and 2 ast while J.J. Ramey netted 13 points himself. Harry Morrice earned his first start of the season and finished with a double-double, 12 points and 10 boards. Brady Bell and Matthew Cromer rounded out the Pats in double figures with 12 and 10 point performances.
 
The game started with a Phoenix three to give them the first lead of the game. This did not last long as UC came back with a pair of buckets out of Cromer along with a Morrice layup. CU would hit their second three of the game to tie things back up, but a triple from Johnson put UC back on top, and they would not lose their lead for the remainder of the contest. CU cut the lead to one, but two Bell lay ins kept UC's lead. The Pats stretched their lead to seven with just over 10 to play in the half.
 
Three CU FT's made it a four-point game before a nice jumper from Morrice, a pair of Cromer free throws, and a Jonathan Brown finish at the rim put UC back up 29-19. Cumberlands grew their lead to as high as 13 with 6:46 on the clock behind two more buckets out of Morrice and Johnson. The Phoenix clawed back to within seven before two Ramey baskets on back-to-back possessions put the Pats up 46-35 with over a minute to play. Neither team converted in the final minute, as UC took an 11-point lead into the locker room.
 
Cumberland University came out of the gate hot in the second half, bringing it all the way back to a one possession game, 58-56. Johnson found Brown for a three to end the run and added a free throw of his own to go back up by six. The Phoenix scored on straight possessions, trailing by just three. UC responded with seven straight points to go back up by ten. This stretch saw FT's from Morrice and Ramey along with a strong and-one finish by Jones, who made the free throw as well. Four more points from Jones saw UC's lead move to 73-62 with six and a half minutes left to play.
 
The following three minutes featured six straight points from Johnson. Three successful trips down the floor from the Phoenix made it 79-71 with 3:50 to play. This would be as close as Cumberland Univ. would get, as the Pats held their opponents to just three more points all game. UC scored nine themselves, four from Cromer, two each from Johnson and Jones, and a final free throw from Brown, bringing the final score to 88-74 in the Pats favor.
 
Cumberlands will finish regular-season conference play on their home court Saturday afternoon on Senior Day. UC will take host the Bethel Wildcats at 3 PM ET, and plan to honor this year's seniors prior to tip-off.
 
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