WILLIAMSBURG, Ky.-- Cumberland Men's Basketball (16-7, 11-7 MSC) drops a close overtime contest 57-54 on the road against the Cumberlands Patriots (17-10, 11-8 MSC).

The Phoenix and the Patriots did not exactly combine to play what one would say "a pretty first half of basketball". UC jumped out to a 4-0 lead over CU after the first four minutes of the game after back-to-back well-executed possessions.

Cumberland answered with a three from Kelvin Jackson followed by a nice move down low by Tavon King to lead 5-4 at the 16-minute mark. Cumberland went on a bit of a mini-run over the next six minutes, growing their lead to 14-6 at the ten-minute mark.

After that, the Phoenix offense completely shut off for the rest of the half as their only bucket came with 4:18 to play on a layup from Tavon King. The Patriots went on a 12-2 run to close out the half and lead the Phoenix 18-16.

Neither team had a good first half shooting the ball as the Phoenix shot 20.7 percent from the field compared to the 30 percent from the Patriots. The three-point percentage was low for both teams at the end of the first half as the Phoenix shot 16.7 percent, and the Patriots did not convert on a three-point attempt.

CU came out of the break playing much better in the second half as they went up 29-22 after TJ Stargell got to the line and converted both free throws. The Patriots battled back to trail by five to the Phoenix at the 10:14 mark at 33-28. The teams battled it out for the last ten minutes of the game, without either team giving up any easy points.

With 32 seconds remaining in the half, Jahi Henson took the ball hard to the rim and slammed a dunk to take a 45-43 lead. The Phoenix responded well as Stargell took the ball hard to the basket and drained a beautiful layup attempt to send the game to overtime at 45-45.

Overtime did not go as well for the Phoenix as the Patriots jumped out to a 55-50 lead with 1:03 to play. Cumberland battled back, though as they had the last shot opportunity down three with 1.3 seconds to play. Unfortunately, TJ Stargell was unable to hit a contested three-pointer and the game ended 57-54 UC over CU.

Neither team's shooting improved as the game went on as the Phoenix finished shooting 29.7 percent from the field and the Cumberlands finished with a 34.4 field goal percentage. Both teams went 68.4 percent from the free-throw line, going 13-19. The Phoenix shot 15.8 percent from three on the night while the Cumberlands went 0-17. The Patriots outrebounded the Phoenix on the night 44-41.

Individually, Tavon King led the Phoenix in scoring with 19 points, going 6-19 from the field. Isaac Stephens carved out a solid performance in limited minutes due to fouls with nine points and seven rebounds. TJ Stargell led the Phoenix in rebounds with nine to go along with four points.

The Phoenix hit the road from Williamsburg and head to Pikeville to take on the Bears at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 12 in a very important matchup in terms of the MSC Standings.