Trojan men beat North Greenville, now 22-2 overall

By Cam Ellis
Published in Sports on February 7, 2015 11:36 PM

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cellis@newsargus.com

MOUNT OLIVE -- Coach Joey Higginbotham pumped his fist in the air and ran down the sideline, high-fiving all of his assistant coaches.

The Trojans had just ran an impressive offensive set, moving the ball from wing to wing while making clean screens and cuts. The play resulted in an open look for Jaquan Blount from the corner, whose 3-pointer hit nothing but net on the way down.

"That's basketball!" he yelled.

That was the basketball that he was looking for all during the first half, when the Trojans came out slow, only scoring 30 points and letting North Greenville stick around.

Until Blount's 3-pointer -- one of five he hit on the night during the No. 14-ranked Trojans' 75-65 triumph over Conference Carolinas foe North Greenville (S.C.) University. Blount finished with 23 points, followed by Jordan McCain with 12, Dontrell Brite with 11 and Kendall Hargrove with 10.

UMO extended its win streak to 11.

"We were out to lunch tonight, more than the last couple games when we started slow," Higginbotham said. "They're a good ballclub, they make you defend. It was a good effort, a total team effort."

The Trojans (22-2 overall) started off the game with some sloppy passing and a lazy rebounding effort, the latter of which has been something Higginbotham has been trying to get his team to improve at all year.

They tightened things up in the second half, however.

Blount went 8 of 8 from the free throw line, including hitting two with 36 seconds that all but sealed the win for the Trojans.

As the regular season winds down and all eyes turn towards the conference tournament and beyond, Higginbotham is glad to see his team starting to fire on all cylinders.

"Overall I thought it was a good team win," he said. "I thought we guarded pretty good. I thought it was one of our better 40-minute efforts."

The Trojans travel to Southern Wesleyan and Belmont Abbey next week.