WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. – The Lindsey Wilson men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought road game to No. 9-ranked Cumberlands (Ky.) 65-55 on Thursday night.

The Blue Raiders (18-9, 5-6 Mid-South Conference) trailed just 32-30 at the halftime but were out-scored by the Patriots (22-5, 8-4 MSC) 33-25 in the second half.

Dmitry Utolin scored a team-high 13 points for Lindsey Wilson on 6-for-15 shooting. Nic Brown chipped in with 11 points – missing just one shot on the night.

A pair of Patriots – Kelsley Wilkinson and Eddie Tornes shared the game-high with 18 points each. The duo combined to shoot 8-of-12 from behind the three-point arc.

As a team, the Patriots shot 11-for-26 from deep. The Blue Raiders took 17 attempts from behind the arc, making just three shots.

Lindsey Wilson jumped on the Patriots out of the gate, leading 9-1 after 4:15 second of play, but Cumberlands weathered the early run to take a 32-30 lead into the intermission.

The Blue Raiders made five of their first seven shots as Cumberlands missed its first four shot attempts and committed three turnovers.

Momentum shifted and the Patriots responded with a burst of its own – going on a 15-2 run over the next six minutes.

Utolin put Lindsey Wilson ahead again with field goal at the 9:11 mark, and Lindsey Wilson held the lead until the 1:56 mark, leading by as many as six on two occasions.

After Bernard Samuel tied the game at 27-27 Lindsey Wilson regained the lead in the final minute of the half. Hannes Erhardt tied the game with a layup, was fouled in the process and knocked down the free throw to give the Blue Raiders a 30-29 lead with 50 seconds remaining.

Marquis Yates put Cumberlands ahead 32-30 with a three-point shot with 11 seconds remaining on the clock.

Lindsey Wilson out-shot the Patriots 48.1 to 40 percent in the first half, but Cumberlands compensated at the free throw line and behind the three-point arc.

The Patriots made six three pointers to the Blue Raiders' three and out-scored LWC by five points at the charity stripe.

Utolin led the Blue Raiders in first-half scoring with nine points on 4-of-8 shooting. Cumberlands' Tornes led all scorers with 15 points – making four of his five attempts from deep.

Cumberlands won the battle of the boards in the first half – out-rebounding the Blue Raiders 19-10.

Neither team could gain separation in the opening stages of the second half as the Patriots' advantage fluctuated between two and four points.

The Blue Raiders missed three chances to pull to within a point when they failed to convert three separate and-one opportunities between 16:07 and 14:38.

Lindsey Wilson finally narrowed the deficit to one point at the 13:34 mark when Brown split a pair of free throws to make the score 42-41. The free throw capped a run of seven-straight points for the junior center.

Immediately following Brown's free throw, the Patriots hit their next three three pointers and four of their next five as part of a spurt that put Cumberlands ahead 51-43.

Wilkinson knocked down his third three pointer of the night at the 7:30 mark to extend Cumberlands' lead to 57-47 – it's largest of the game to that point.

The Blue Raiders worked to chip away at that deficit, eventually pulling to within three points on a turnaround jumper by Utolin with 2:08 left on the clock.

Cumberlands' Wilkinson converted on both ends of the one-and-one six seconds later to put five points between the Patriots and Blue Raiders.

Lindsey Wilson turned the ball over on its next possession and Samuel pushed the lead to seven points, making a highly-contested jumper over Utolin.

The Blue Raiders went scoreless for the final 2:08 of the game while Cumberlands made five of its last six free throws, all coming in the last 2:02 of the contest.

Lindsey Wilson shot just 35.7 percent in the second half and 41.8 percent for the game. The Blue Raiders missed all seven of their three-point attempts after the intermission.

The Blue Raiders travel to No. 14-ranked Pikeville (Ky.) on Saturday for a 3 p.m. CT contest.