Mount Olive men bounce back

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on November 18, 2012 1:53 AM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- The second night of the 47th annual Mount Olive Pickle Classic turned out to be much more fun for the home team than the first night.

Mount Olive College claimed its first win of the college basketball season with an 85-66 triumph over Fayetteville State and earned a split of the two classic games.

"Tonight I was pleased with how many guys contributed to the win," Mount Olive head coach Joey Higginbotham said. "Last night we got out-rebounded badly over the last eight minutes of the game and tonight we turned that around and won the rebounding battle."

The game started exactly how Higginbotham envisioned as the Trojans held their own on the glass and made a pair of early jumpers. Mount Olive built a 10-5 lead over the first six minutes of play.

The Broncos offensive woes continued as the first half wore on. Fayetteville State went nearly seven minutes without a field goal at one point and Mount Olive pulled away to a 15-7 advantage. By halftime the Mount Olive lead had grown to nine points at 31-22.

"We could not get any shots to fall in the first half," Higginbotham said. "In the second half I thought we were a little more aggressive and we started hitting some shots."

Early in the second a half a foul on an inbounds pass nearly led to blows as players pushed, shoved and cocked their fists near the Broncos' foul line. A pair of technical fouls were assessed, one to each team, but the reaction prompted the final 16 minutes of play to be very tense and closely officiated.

The lack of flow to the game did not seem to bother Mount Olive (1-1). The Trojans extended the lead to 52-37 with 11 minutes left in the contest. A flagrant foul on the Broncos led to a pair of free throws from Deshaune Green that essentially put the game out of reach with nine minutes to play.

Dory Hines provided the exclamation point with a fast break dunk that put the Trojans ahead 64-43 with just seven minutes left in regulation.

"When (Hines) is aggressive he is as good as any guard in the country," Higginbotham said. "We need him to be aggressive because we go as he goes."

 Kendall Hargrove led Mount Olive with 14 points. Hines added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Darrell Patterson and Mahamed Ibrahim each scored 13 points in the win. Hines and Green were each named to the All-Classic team.

Anthony Shelton led Fayetteville State (1-3 overall) with 19 points. Tyrell Tate added 13 in the loss.

Mount Olive returns to action on Monday night when North Greenville pays a visit to Kornegay Arena. Game time is 7:30 p.m.