Emmanuel men rally past UMO

By Justin Hayes
Published in Sports on January 14, 2016 1:48 PM

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jhayes@newsargus.com

MOUNT OLIVE -- Causality.

Forecasting.

Chaos theory.

Or, as University of Mount Olive men's head basketball coach Joey Higginbotham referred to it, "the snowball effect."

Regardless of one's pet description for the Trojans' 71-67 loss to visiting Emmanuel (Ga.) College on Wednesday night, its primary contributing factor -- turnovers -- has been far too prevalent the last two weeks.

Just 12 days ago, Mount Olive (9-6, 4-3 Conference Carolinas) surrendered 15 possessions to Emmanuel, yet managed to claw out a hotly-contested 72-69 road victory.

On Wednesday night, the errors were too much to overcome.

"I thought we were there," Higginbotham said, "Up 13... and six of our next 13 possessions, we turned the ball over. You're not going to beat good teams doing that."

With 3:46 remaining in the second half and the Trojans clinging to a 62-57 advantage, freshman Jacque Brown lost control of his dribble in the frontcourt -- one of 10 second-half turnovers by the Trojans, which spelled the beginning of the end for Higginbotham's team.

Following the Brown turnover, Emmanuel guard Emerson McClung buried a 3-pointer from the left wing, making the deficit just two. A mere 40 seconds later, he would make another to give the Lions a 63-62 lead -- their first lead since the 7:34 mark of the first half.

From there, a disciplined, routine effort from the charity stripe secured a victory for Emmanuel (10-3, 5-2).

As for Higginbotham's unit, the answers and 40 minutes of comprehensive basketball must be found quickly. In two games versus the Lions this season, they have committed 34 turnovers.

"We have to regroup... compete together, practice together, fight together. This can't just be turned around on game day. Guys have to take a little more ownership of this team."

The Trojans face Pfeiffer on Jan. 16.