Campbellsville, KY – The Patriots opened Mid-South Conference play with a win for the second straight season after defeating Campbellsville University on the road, Thursday night. UC took down the Tigers 85-73, moving to 12-4 overall on the year.
 
Robertas Jonaitis led the Pats with his first double-double of the year. The Lithuanian went for 22 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, and two blocks and shot a perfect 8-8 from the field in the second half. Harry Morrice finished with 19 points, eight boards, and four assists, scoring 17 second-half points. Matthew Cromer added 15 pts, 5 reb, and 2 ast while DJ Jones and Anthony Johnson added 13 and 12 points with four rebounds and four assists each.
 
The Tigers jumped out to an early lead before Morrice got the Patriots on the board with a slam for his only points of the first half. Jones added a mid-range jumper, making it 10-4 Tigers after the opening three minutes of play. Jonaitis added a layup and then blocked a shot on the defensive end before knocking down his first triple of the season to put UC within one. Cromer's first three of the night gave UC their first lead of the game followed by a pair of Johnson buckets. Anthony Harris and Tajahri Cave capped off the 14-0 run with layups of their own as UC went up 18-10 with 13:40 on the clock.
 
UC's next six points came from the charity stripe, as Johnson knocked down four out of five shots along with a pair of makes out of Jones. The Tigers clawed back to within five before four-straight points out of Cromer gave UC a nine-point cushion. CU pulled within four with three minutes left, before a pair of impressive dunks from Johnson in transition stretched the Patriots lead to 34-26 at the half.  
 
Morrice opened the second half with his first triple of the season followed by an alley oop dunk off a nice Johnson find. Jonaitis added six more points to stretch UC's lead back to double digits. He then found Jones at the top of the key for a three to make it 48-35 Patriots. Three-straight offensive rebounds from Harris and Jonaitis led to an easy bucket for UC, giving them a 14-point advantage with just under 13 minutes to play. FT's from Jones and Morrice followed by a pair of Cromer triples put the Pats up 15 with less than 10 minutes on the clock.  
 
Cromer added his seventh and eighth straight points at the charity stripe before Morrice and Jones found Jonaitis on back-to-back possessions for a pair of slams. Jonaitis returned the favor the next trip down the floor for a Morrice slam. The Dundee, Scotland native added another huge dunk followed by a lay in and a free throw to make it seven-straight points from the big man.
 
A Campbellsville three pointer and lay in pulled the Tigers with 10, but the Pats quickly stretched their lead back out to 16 after three Jonaitis points and a nice finish in the lane from Jones. The lead grew to 18 with three minutes to go, before the final buzzer sounded with UC taking the contest 85-73.
 
Cumberlands move to 12-4 on the season and 1-0 in MSC play. They will be back in action on Saturday as they take on Johnson University at home at 3 PM ET.  
 
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