Indiana bound! UMO captures Southeast Regional men's basketball crown

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on March 18, 2015 1:46 PM

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But UMO's regional title hopes seemed in doubt when Ibrhaim Johnson gave Montevallo its biggest lead, 48-35, with 14:27 remaining in the second half.

Higginbotham called timeout.

"I told the guys if we can all play as hard as Kendall (Hargrove), we will win this game," Higginbotham said. "We locked down defensively, got some offense off of our defense. It was a total team effort, which is what it has been all year."

Hargrove's two free throws started a stirring turnaround during the final 121/2 minutes. Mount Olive went on a 23-12 run that included a pair of 3-pointers by all-Southeast Region tournament selection JaQuan Blount and teammate Jordan McCain.

The outside shooting opened up the inside for Dominique Reed, who finished around the basket and put the Trojans in position for their first Elite Eight appearance since 2005. Reed knocked down a regional-best 23 points on 11 of 13 shooting from the floor.

Reed's layup with 3:50 remaining gave UMO a 72-70 advantage. Second-seeded Montevallo battled to a 75-75 tie before McCain drained the go-ahead 3-pointer off of Blount's assist with 1:47 to go.

McCain polished off the comeback with his four straight free throws and ended the night with 15 points. Blount added 19 points. Dontrell Brite handed out a team-high seven assists.

Named the regional's most outstanding player, Hargrove narrowly missed a double-double with 21 points and nine rebounds. Hargrove held Montevallo's Torian Brown (21 points) without a field goal during the final nine minutes of play.

"Kendall was a special young man tonight," Higginbotham said. "He led us where we wanted to go and was not going to let us lose. His teammates answered the call.

"It was pretty fun to watch."

The Trojans made more free throws (24) than Montevallo attempted (15) and owned a decisive 32-23 edge on the glass. UMO recorded 20 assists as a team on 26 made field goals and shot a blistering 73.7 percent (14 of 19) from the floor in the second half.

"I thought our guys showed a lot of resilience because we didn't play great that first 32 minutes," Higginbotham said. "We never quit, had a 'refuse-to-lose' mentality.

"I can't wait to get back to Mount Olive. This (regional title) isn't a program thing, but a university thing and a community thing because we've had unbelievable support all season long."