MOC men top Erskine 82-71

By MOC Sports Information
Published in Sports on January 24, 2009 11:14 PM

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Kendrick Easley scored 22 points and Mike Holloman notched a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds as Mount Olive held off Erskine 82-71 in Conference Carolinas men's basketball on Saturday.

Justin Melton hit a three-pointer with less than 90 seconds left and Mount Olive hit 6-of-7 free throws down the stretch to stop a final Erskine comeback and remain tied for first in the conference standings.

Mount Olive (10-7 overall, 9-1 Conference Carolinas) jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, sparked by Kendrick Easley's three-pointer. Erskine (5-11, 4-6) rallied to tie the game as Marko Latinovic's three-pointer evened the score at 13-13 with 14:16 left in the first half.

The game was tied two more times before Easley broke a 29-29 deadlock with a three-pointer and a three-point play. Dobson added his second three-pointer of the half to build the margin to double figures and Holloman hit a pair of free throws with 1:17 remaining to give Mount Olive its biggest lead at 44-32.

Baskets by Holloman and Kason Cheeks early in the second half kept the margin at double figures, but Dejan Nedelkovski's three-point play finished a 13-2 Erskine run and knotted the game at 52-52 with 12:38 left to play.

Easley's three-pointer broke a 54-54 tie and Melton added a trey after Erskine pulled within one.

Easley scored again off a steal by Derek Staton as Mount Olive built the lead back to double figures.

Craig Hayes added 10 points for Mount Olive, while Kason Cheeks narrowly missed his first collegiate double-double with nine points and a career-high 12 rebounds. The Trojans outrebounded Erskine 48-32.

Wright led all scorers with 29 points for Erskine.