WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. -- Justin Archie tallied a team-high 15 points and Kalen Kimberland added 10, but it wasn't enough for the Lindsey Wilson College men's basketball team as it lost to University of the Cumberlands (Ky.) 69-58 on Monday night in the Mid-South Conference regular-season opener at the O. Wayne Rollins Center.
Matt Daniel and Zavion Neely paced the Patriots with 16 points each, while Flynn Clayman added 14 points and Patrico Leadon chipped in with 12. Daniel did most of his damage from behind the arc with four threes, while Clayman added three from behind the arc.
Lindsey Wilson falls to 4-3 overall and 0-1 in the MSC, while Cumberlands is a perfect 7-0 with a 1-0 start in MSC play.
If you were in the market for a game of trading outside shots or mid-range jumpers you were out of luck on Monday in Williamsburg as the Blue Raiders and Patriots were more interested in attacking than letting the ball fly from outside.
Sophomore Chase Cox hit a deep three halfway through the half, but that was the extent of baskets outside the paint for Lindsey Wilson.
Archie was in the zone for the Blue Raiders attacking the basket, finishing with seven points in the half, while junior Wesley Hanspard and sophomore Anthony Sparks provided five and four points in the paint, respectively.
Like Cox's brief showing from behind the arc, Cumberlands got a pair of threes from Matt Daniel who finished the half with eight points, while the rest of the Patriots' offense mirrored the attacking style of the Blue Raiders.
Still the Patriots used their advantage from behind the arc to help build a 33-26 lead at halftime.
Once the second half got underway the game plan changed for Cumberlands.
Going away from the driving style, the Patriots got hot from outside and used a shooting clinic by Clayman and Daniel to build an 18-point lead at 55-37 with 10 minutes left to play.
Archie did his best down the stretch to keep Lindsey Wilson in the game, connecting on back-to-back layups to dwindle the lead down to 12 with six minutes to go.
At the 3:15 mark Lindsey Wilson had gotten the deficit down to single digits at nine on a basket by Kimberland and was inching closer to a workable margin in the game's final stages.
But the Patriot defense was too much in the end as an open shot wasn't available to the Blue Raiders. Kimberland had a chance to bring the lead down to six on a basket, but he was called for an offensive foul first to negate the basket.
In turn Cumberlands was sent to the free-throw line twice where they connected on each shot to lead by 10 with 30 seconds on the clock and put the game away.
The Patriots were hard to beat shooting 44.6 from the field and 44.4 percent on threes, while Lindsey Wilson shot 35.1 percent from the field and 33.3 percent on threes.
Lindsey Wilson returns to action at 6 p.m. CT on Friday against Life University in the Lou Cunningham Classic hosted by Campbellsville (Ky.) University in Campbellsville, Ky.
