Patterson sparks MOC men on road

By MOC Sports Information
Published in Sports on January 5, 2013 11:06 PM

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MOC Sports Information

BANNER ELK -- Darrell Patterson buried three 3-pointers during an early 21-0 and Mount Olive defeated in-state foe Lees-McRae, 112-70, in a Conference Carolinas men's basketball game Saturday afternoon.

Patterson collected 27 points for the Trojans, who extended their win streak to three and captured their first league win of the season. Patterson has scored 20-plus points in four of his last six outings.

Mahamed Ibrahim finished with 14 points, while Deshaune Green and Ewon Wright added 11 points apiece. Dory Hines tallied nine points, eight assists and six rebounds.

Freshman Dontrell Brite dished out a career-high seven assists. Dominique Reed narrowly missed his first collegiate double-double with eight points and a game-high nine rebounds as the Trojans outrebounded the Bobcats 55-37.

MOC (4-7 overall, 1-4 CC) trailed by four points early in the game before Patterson's 3-pointer with 16:34 left in the first half tied the game 8-8 and ignited the Trojans' run. Reed scored Mount Olive's next six points and Patterson's second three with 12:13 left gave the Trojans' their first double-digit lead at 19-8.

Green's steal led to a Patterson layup and Patterson's third three-pointer capped Mount Olive's run of 21 unanswered points and gave the Trojans a 26-8 lead with 10:36 lead.

Lees-McRae (0-11, 0-5) ended a seven-minute scoring drought on its ensuing possession on Charles Clarke's putback.

Ibrahim answered with a three-pointer and the margin reached the 20-point mark for the first time as another three by Patterson extended Mount Olive's lead to 40-20 with 6:24 remaining. The Trojans took their biggest lead of the half at 46-22 on Kendall Hargrove's dunk with 4:22 left.

MOC returns home Wednesday for a conference battle against Queens University of Charlotte. Tip-off is approximately 20 minutes after the conclusion of the women's game.

Women stunned

BANNER ELK -- Tamara Nesmith recorded her sixth double-double of the season, but Mount Olive committed two costly turnovers in the final eight seconds of a 72-70 loss to Lees-McRae on the Conference Carolinas women's basketball scene Saturday afternoon.

Nesmith pumped in a game-high 25 points and hauled down 12 rebounds. Kirksten Mitchell chipped in 17 points for the Trojan women, who fell to 8-2 overall and have lost both league games on the road this season.

LMC led 40-32 at halftime and extended its advantage to 10 points early in the second half. Nesmith's layup got MOC moving offensively and helped trim the deficit to three points.

The Bobcats (3-5 overall, 1-4 CC) regained their double-digit lead before two Mitchell free throws started another Trojan spurt. Alyssa Luebs controlled the glass and helped spark an 11-0 run to give MOC the lead.

The lead changed hands 14 times in the final 11 minutes.

Nesmith gave the Trojans their final lead of the contest with a three-point play with 59 seconds remaining. After a timeout, Layana DeSouza brought the Bobcats even with a layup with 37 seconds remaining.

Mount Olive got two chances to regain the lead. A steal by Kerri Belcher, however, ruined the first opportunity. With eight seconds remaining, Belcher drew a foul and made both free throw attempts to seal the upset.

The Trojan women still had time for a shot, but the last of the team's 21 turnovers denied the chance.