FLORENCE, SC – Francis Marion University senior forward Bryce Beamer and senior guard Alex Cox combined for 54 points, but the Patriots were unable to hang onto a double-digit second-half lead and fell to visiting University of Mount Olive 89-82, Wednesday night (Feb. 22) in Conference Carolinas men's basketball action.
 
Francis Marion ends the regular season 13-13 overall and 10-10 in league play.  The Patriots will be the seventh seed in the upcoming conference tournament and will face 10th-seeded King University (Tenn.) on Sunday evening (Feb. 26) at 5 p.m. in Spartanburg, S.C., on the campus of Converse University.
 
Beamer tallied 30 points, including four three-pointers, and grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds to post his fourth double-double of the year.  His point total comes on the heels of his career-high 32-point outburst on Saturday against North Greenville University.
 
Cox scored 24 points on 11-of-17 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds.  Playing for the final time in the Smith University Center, the fifth-year senior pushed his career point total to 1,047 and moved pass former Patriot forward Chris Mazzella and into 18th place on the FMU career scoring list.
 
Sophomore guard Farid SaintCyr Jr. came off the FMU bench to score 10 points and senior guard Tionne Rollins registered seven points and a career-high 11 assists.
 
Guard Michael Brown paced Mount Olive (11-17, 9-11) with 26 points, eight rebounds, and six assists.
 
The two squads were separated by no more than six points over the opening 12 minutes of the contest.  FMU opened an eight-point margin at 32-24 following a step-back jumper by junior swingman Darius Jones with 7:40 left before halftime.  A lay-in by Beamer stretched the advantage to 36-37 a minute later.  FMU led 47-42 at intermission after shooting 58.8 percent in the opening half.
 
A three-pointer by Cox expanded the lead to 12 points (63-51) five-and-a-half minutes into the second half.  The margin was still nine at 72-63 with 10:43 left in the game, when Mount Olive began to rally.  The Trojans used an 18-2 run over the next six minutes to assume the lead and take an 81-74 advantage.
 
A floater in the lane by Cox brought Francis Marion to within 81-78 with 1:29 on the clock, but Mount Olive rattled off the next five points to seal the outcome.
 
For the game, Francis Marion connected on 47.9 percent of its field goal attempts and was 7-of-10 at the foul line.  UMO shot 51.6 percent from the floor and was 16-of-24 at the free throw stripe.

 
 
02/22/23 7:30 pm at Florence, SC
MOUNT OLIVE 89, FRANCIS MARION 82
MOUNT OLIVE (11-18,9-11 Confe)
Michael Brown 8-11 9-11 26; Trayvon Ferrell 7-13 2-2 16; Ryan Roberts 5-9
0-0 13; Shane Peterson 2-9 2-4 8; Aaron Murphy 3-3 0-0 7; Colin Radcliffe
2-4 0-0 6; Derreco Miller 3-7 0-2 6; Brent Randleman 2-4 0-2 4; Isaiah
Bridges 0-0 3-3 3; Kaeleb Carter 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 32-62 16-24 89.
FRANCIS MARION (13-13,10-10 Conf)
Bryce Beamer 11-22 4-4 30; Alex Cox 11-17 1-4 24; Farid SaintCyr Jr. 5-11
0-0 10; Darius Jones 3-6 2-2 9; Tionne Rollins 3-12 0-0 7; Adonis Cole 1-2
0-0 2; Asante Turner 0-1 0-0 0; Doug Alves 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-71 7-10 82.
Halftime: Francis Marion 47 Mount Olive 42
3-point goals--Mount Olive 9-25 (Ryan Roberts 3-7; Colin Radcliffe 2-4;
Shane Peterson 2-9; Michael Brown 1-1; Aaron Murphy 1-1; Kaeleb Carter 0-2;
Trayvon Ferrell 0-1), Francis Marion 7-24 (Bryce Beamer 4-8; Darius Jones
1-4; Alex Cox 1-2; Tionne Rollins 1-8; Farid SaintCyr Jr. 0-2). Fouled
out--Mount Olive-None, Francis Marion-None. Rebounds--Mount Olive 37
(Trayvon Ferrell 10), Francis Marion 35 (Bryce Beamer 14). Assists--Mount
Olive 18 (Michael Brown 6), Francis Marion 16 (Tionne Rollins 11). Total
fouls--Mount Olive 13, Francis Marion 18. Technical fouls--None. A-325