UMO men earn share of Conference Carolinas hoops crown

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on February 26, 2014 1:46 PM

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astevens@newsargus.com

MOUNT OLIVE -- Mount Olive and Barton have staged some classic battles in the storied history of their bitter rivalry.

Tuesday night's meeting ranks among the best.

The Trojans sank 14 of 16 free throws in the final six minutes of a 75-72 victory inside rowdy Kornegay Arena. Mount Olive clinched a share of its sixth regular-season Conference Carolinas championship and first since 2010.

UMO grabbed the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament and plays host to Pfeiffer University on Saturday. A game time has not been announced.

Dontrell Brite led the Trojans with 26 points including a 16 for 19 performance at the free throw line. Jordan McCain added 11 points and senior Ewon Wright had 10 points in his final regular-season home game.

Chris Flemmings scored a game-high 30 points for the Bulldogs.

The heart-stopping affair featured nine ties and 24 lead changes.

Mount Olive used its dribble penetration to get into the paint for easy baskets which freed up passing lanes to open shooters in the second half. McCain's 3-pointer gave the Trojans a 43-42 lead with more than 12 minutes to play.

McCain drained another 3-pointer with fewer than three minutes left that gave the Trojans a 65-62 advantage and sent Kornegay Arena into a frenzy.

"I was wide open at the top of the key and Dontrell found me and I was still feeling confident," McCain said. "I was missing (shots) in the first half so in the second half I started driving to the basket. That gets my shot going and (Dontrell) kicked it out to me and I shot it with confidence."

Brite tacked on a pair of free throws as the lead grew to 67-62.

Flemmings' jump shot with 14.5 seconds left pulled the Bulldogs to within 71-69. After a pair of free throws from Brite, Flemmings' 3-pointer cut the margin to 73-72 with 4.8 seconds left.

Brite calmly sank two free throws and Daniel McClendon's 3-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark.

"We actually stop during practice and work on free throws," Brite said. "Shooting free throws is a release to us and we know we're going to knock them down because we make them every day. We just have to keep our composure and take a couple of deep breaths and relax and knock them down."

Mount Olive and Barton entered the contest ranked 287th and 283rd, respectively, among all Division II schools in free throw percentage. The Trojans finished 24 for 35 at the line.

"We knocked them down," Mount Olive head coach Joey Higginbotham said. "Dontrell was big for us on the free throw line down the stretch. We want him and Jordan on the free throw line as much as we can down the stretch so we can cash them in and we did a good job of that."

The opening 20 minutes were played at a frantic pace with neither team building more than a six-point lead. The Bulldogs used 16 first-half points from Flemmings and a 26-19 edge on the glass to build a 32-29 lead at halftime.