MURFREESBORO, N.C. – The Lees-McRae men's basketball team's 2022-23 season came to end in the first round of the Conference Carolinas Men's Basketball Championship with a 95-87 loss to the University of Mount Olive.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: No. 8 Mount Olive – 95; No. 9 Lees-McRae – 87
LOCATION: Hawks Athletic Center – Murfreesboro, North Carolina
RECORDS: Lees-McRae (13-16/9-11), Mount Olive (12-18/9-11)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Jaylin Stewart had a team-high 21 points on 9-11 from the field and Timon Jones followed with 18 points on 3-7 from three-point range.
- Jeremy Golson followed with 12 points on 4-5 from beyond-the-arc and Brandon Brown joined his fellow Bobcats in double figures with 10 in 24 minutes played.
- Lees-McRae went 31-58 (53.4%) from the field with 10 three pointers, but only made 15-25 from the free-throw line in the evening.
- Mount Olive's Kaeleb Carter opened the scoring with a three as the Trojans never let go of the lead for the remainder of the game. LJ Rogers cut the deficit to five points at the 1:48 mark of the first half, but UMO took the 51-42 edge into the halftime break.
- Drew Gardner connected on two free throw makes with 15:39 remaining in the contest as the Bobcats trailed by six, but the Trojans grew their lead to 16 off a quick 7-0 run.
- The Bobcats then cut the lead back to six with eight minutes remaining in the game after a layup via Nico Ashley.
- Stewart continued his strong game as Lees-McRae only trailed by four with 53 seconds left, but Mount Olive went 7-8 from the charity stripe the rest of the way for the 95-87 victory in the first round of the Conference Carolinas Men's Basketball Tournament.
FOR THE TROJANS:
- Michael Brown had a game-high 27 points and distributed nine assists on the night. Carter followed with 17 and Ryan Roberts added 11 points to his season totals.
- Trayvon Ferrell and Derreco Miller each collected 10 points in the Trojans' victory.
- UMO will now face Chowan University tomorrow at 7 p.m. in the second round of the Conference Carolinas Men's Basketball Tournament.
UP NEXT:
Lees-McRae men's basketball finishes the season with an overall record of 13-16.
For more information on Lees-McRae Athletics, follow the Bobcats on Twitter (@LMCBobcats), on Facebook (Lees-McRae Athletics), and on Instagram (leesmcraeathletics).
