Williamsburg, KY – For the second-straight year, the Patriots earned a spot in the NAIA Final Site Round of 16 after winning the First and Second Round on their home court. UC took down the number five seed, Mobile on Saturday after outscoring the Rams by 15 in the second half. The Pats took the 93-77 win to advance to Kansas City, MO next week.
Anthony Johnson and DJ Jones lit up the Rams for a combined 48 points, while hitting only one three. Johnson finished with 26 pts, 4 reb, 4 ast, and 1 stl while Jones added 22 pts, 5 reb, 5 ast, and 2 stl. Matthew Cromer also had an impressive performance in his final game on Randy Vernon Court, finishing with 12 points, eight boards, three assists, and a career-high six steals. Brady Bell also came up huge off the bench for UC, knocking down five threes and grabbing six rebounds.
Robertas Jonaitis started the afternoon with a slam and another bucket for the first four UC points of the game. UM answered with a 10-4 run to go up eight points before Bell hit his first three to cut the deficit to five. A Jones bucket then another triple from Bell evened things up before Jones found Ryan Davidson for a mid-range jumper to give UC the lead. After a Rams bucket, Bell nailed his third three in two minutes to regain UC's lead.
The Rams held a consistent three-point lead until a free throw from Cromer and a steal from Tajahri Cave led to a layup from Johnson to tie the game at 27-27 with 6:33 to play. Cromer then grabbed an offensive board that led to a triple from the senior to give UC the lead. Four more points from Cromer off his own two steals, and a pair of free throws from Johnson put UC up one with less than three minutes in the half. Another steal from Cromer then allowed Johnson to get out in transition and score at the rim. A three from the Rams put UC down two, before Cave found Jones behind the arc for a Patriot three to give UC the 41-40 lead into the break.
Jones came out on fire for UC, scoring their first five points. Tree more points from Johnson along with a pair of free throws from Jonaitis put UC up nine, their largest lead at this point of the game. The Rams fought back to within three before another Johnson bucket and a big dunk from Anthony Harris pushed the lead back to five. Johnson then stripped the Rams ball handler, leading to a two-hand flush. Jones then picked a Ram's pocket and drew a foul on the other end, making both foul shots to go back up by nine. The lead stretched to double-digits after two more baskets from Cromer and Jones, making it 64-54 with 11:58 to play.
Both teams traded baskets over the next two minutes before the Pats score 11 unanswered to take control of the game and go ahead by 18. Another Bell three and eight more points from Johnson and Jones highlighted the run. Cumberlands continued to run the floor and score in transition, never giving the Rams a chance to fight back. With 3:04 to play, the Rams hit a free throw to cut their deficit to 13, but this would be as close as they could get, as UC capped the night off with a dunk from Harris to take the victory, 93-77.
UC will now await the winner of the No. 1 seed Arizona Christian and No. 9 Oregon Tech where they will meet in Kansas City, MO next week for the NAIA Final Site Round of 16. All games will be hosted at Municipal Auditorium, and will begin on Thursday, March 20th.
For the latest and most up-to-date information on University of the Cumberlands Athletics please visit www.cumberlandspatriots.com. Follow us on X - @UC_Patriots and @UCPatsGameday, Instagram- @UCPatriots, TikTok- @ucpatriots, YouTube- Cumberlands Patriots, and Facebook by searching University of the Cumberlands Athletics.
