North Kentucky News

The Patriots opened up Mid-South Conference play against No. 2 Thomas More University on Thursday night. The Saints handed UC their first loss of the year 86-61. The Pats move to 5-1 on the season.
 
Going a perfect 15-15 from the charity stripe was not enough for the Patriots as they were outscored 52-18 in the paint and out-rebounded 27-16. Isaiah Payton and J.J. Ramey led all UC scorers on the day with 10 points apiece while Steven Fitzgerald and Jadrian Flores netted nine points each.
 
Cumberlands scored the first points of the game just 30 seconds in off a floater from Payton. This marked their first and only lead of the game as the Saints would respond with a 21-2 run of their own with 11:26 left to play in the half. A Matt Cromer layup accompanied with a triple and jumper from Ramey brought the score to 27-11 going into the under six media timeout. A pair of made triples by Cromer and Fitzgerald and layups from Fitzgerald, Austin Hall and Jahi Hinson cut the Saints lead to 39-23 heading into the locker room.
 
Just over a minute into the second half Fitzgerald scored his seventh point of the night as he laid the ball off the glass. Flores got on the scoresheet shortly after with a couple of made free throws followed by another good bucket in the paint from Fitzgerald. Three minutes went by without a UC bucket before Hinson went to the foul line and hit both to make the score 57-31 with 14:34 left to play.
 
Kamari Kenemore drew a shooting foul and knocked down a pair free throws down to keep UC perfect from the line. A pair of baskets from Ramey including one from behind the arc and another two points from Kenemore made it a 66-40 game with just over 10 minutes remaining. Three Patriots combined for 21 points in the final minutes of play. Payton netted two triples and a jumper while Flores hit a layup to go along with five made free throws. Elijah Jefferson tallied a season-high six points behind a jumper and a 4-4 performance from the foul line. The final buzzer would sound with the Saints up 86-61.
 
Cumberlands will be back in action on Saturday the 19th as they take on the new face in the MSC, Wilberforce. Gametime is set for 3 PM ET in Williamsburg, KY. 
 
For the latest and most up-to-date information on University of the Cumberlands Athletics. Please visit www.cumberlandspatriots.com. Follow us on Twitter- @UC_Patriots and @UCPatsGameday, Instagram- @UCPatriots, TikTok- @ucpatriots, Youtube- Cumberlands Patriots, and Facebook by searching University of the Cumberlands Athletics. 

Original source can be found here.