Jordan Stephens/Men's Basketball | Cumberland University, Lebanon, TN
Jordan Stephens/Men's Basketball | Cumberland University, Lebanon, TN
Cumberland drains season-high 12 triples as Jordan Stephens goes for 25 as the Phoenix knock off No. 10 Thomas More 78-75.
Cumberland (9-8, 6-6 MSC) made it rain from outside to help propel them over the Saints. The Phoenix went 28-of-58 from the field and added 10-of-17 from the free throw line. Cumberland controlled the ball and the pace of the game only turning it over five times.
Stephens posted his third 20 point game of the season as he netted five three-pointers with three steals. TJ Stargell was the only other Phoenix in double-figures as he scored 12 on 4-of-11 shooting and added six dimes and four rebounds.
Demarius Boyd made his first start of the season and scored nine points. Tyler Byrd scored nine points off the bench and Isaac Stephens and Ty’Reek Johnson each added eight points. Nassir Coleman had another double-figure rebound game with 11.
Thomas More (14-3, 9-3 MSC) shot 50.0% even from the field and nearly answered Cumberland’s 12 threes with nine of their own.
Nearly all of the Saints production came from their starting five as they accounted for 66 of the team’s 75 points. Reid Jolly scored a team-high 24 on 9-of-17 shooting with three rebounds. Jacob Jones scored 16. Wyatt Vieth added 15 points and Noah Pack scored 11.
In the early going both teams swapped short spurts all the way to a 12-12 tie. Cumberland then went on a 5-0 run as Jordan Stephens nailed a three and Stargell went coast-to-coast on a steal and a layup. The Saints answered right back with two straight baskets from Jolly before Byrd hit a three from the top of the key and Stargell again had a steal and a lay-in. Stephens capped the run with a steal and two-handed slam to force Thomas More into a timeout down by eight, 24-16.
The Phoenix kept rolling after the timeout as Johnson and Stephens went back-to-back on three-pointers to give Cumberland a 12-point advantage. The Saints finally regrouped to go on a 6-0 run, but Stargell stopped it with a three of his own answered on the other end by Vieth for a 9-3 run for TMU.
Cumberland would make two more threes in the half from Jamir Reed and Stephens to allow Cumberland to take a 43-34 halftime lead.
Out of half, Cumberland scored the first four points to push it out to 13 and extended the lead to as much as 17 at 54-37.
Thomas More slowly started to chip away at the lead as they went on a 12-4 run from three triples and a foul on a three ball that lead to three free throws to make it a seven-point game at 56-49 with 12:50 left in the game.
From that point, Cumberland was able to push it back out to 12 after a 6-1 run, but again the Saints kept fighting their way back into the game.
With 5:55 left, Thomas More went on a 6-0 run to bring it to within two possessions at 64-60, but Coleman banked in a hook shot and Stephens hit his first three of the second half to push it back out to nine.
Down the stretch the Saints stayed in the game and would force Cumberland to the free throw line where it worked to their advantage. The Phoenix missed the front-end on one-and-ones in the bonus and missed both from the line a couple times, but the lead was to large for the Saints to surmount as Cumberland defeated Thomas More 78-75.
Cumberland will be at home at the Dallas Floyd Phoenix Arena this Saturday to take on Wilberforce in Mid-South Conference action. Tip is set for after the women’s game at 3:00 p.m.
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