MOUNT OLIVE, NC – Junior forward Jordyn Surratt scored a school-record 45 points, his second consecutive 40-point outing, as Francis Marion University defeated the University of Mount Olive 129-121 on Tuesday (Feb. 11) evening in men's basketball action.
 
Francis Marion (9-15, 7-9) will continue the battle of I-95 as they host rival UNC Pembroke on Wednesday (Feb. 19) at 7:30 p.m.
 
Surratt, a native of Spartanburg, S.C., and a product of Dorman High School, scored all of his points from inside the three-point line, shooting 14-of-16 from the field and 17-of-19 from the free throw line.   His point total eclipsed the previous record of 41 set by guard Detrek Browning against Augusta University during a 106-104 double overtime road win in 2018.  Surratt's free throw total was one shy of the team record for makes in a contest set by Dennis Sullen in 1976.
 
Of the eight Patriots that played, six registered double figures in scoring. Junior guard Jordan Simpson scored 22 points while connecting on 9-of-12 from the field and freshman forward Alex Atkinson recorded his fifth consecutive game scoring in double digits with 19 points.
 
Junior guard Latavian Lawrence matched Atkinson with 19 points, while grabbing a game-high of 12 rebounds. Senior guard Ibrahim Wattara (13) and junior guard Jaden Broughton (11) finished out the double digit scorers.
 
The team's 129 total is the fourth-highest game output in team history, and the highest in 13 seasons.
 
Francis Marion shot 71.9 percent from the floor for the game, just shy of the team single-game mark of 72.5 percent set in a 1993 win over Newberry College.
 
Chase Dawson of Mount Olive (10-14, 8-8) paced the Trojans with 28 points, shooting 11-of-20 from the field.
 
After five lead exchanges in the opening minutes of the first half, Francis Marion jumped ahead 20-15 by the 15:13 mark as Surratt threw down a dunk. Broughton blew by his defender to lay a bucket in and widened the advantage to 28-19.
 
Simpson dished out an assist as Atkinson sank a turnaround hook shot over his defender and gave the Patriots a six-point lead at 43-37.
 
Mount Olive cut the lead down to just one point (50-49) with 4:22 left in the first half, but Broughton expanded the margin back to 52-49 as he made two free throws. Lawrence put away four points in two back-to-back possessions and the Patriots went up 63-56.
 
The Patriots ended the first half leading the Trojans 69-64 as Simpson drained a three-pointer from the half-court logo of Kornegay Arena.  The Patriots connected on 75.0 percent (24-of-32) of their first-half field goal attempts.
 
Surratt scored 27 of the team's total 69 points in the first half. That first half total ranks as the seventh highest scoring half in program history.
 
Simpson scored seven straight points for Francis Marion to put Mount Olive in a 82-74 deficit by the 16:34 mark. An eight-point burst that was ignited Surratt left the Trojans trailing 90-79.
 
At the 10:04 mark, Wattara drove the baseline and split two defenders that allowed the Patriots to assume a lead of 11 points at 101-90. Another bucket from Surratt opened the lead to 105-92 at the 8:57 mark.
 
With 2:53 left on the clock, Mount Olive had turned the game into a one-point game at 114-113, but Broughton made two free throws and a lay-up and Surratt drain two free throws to put the Patriots ahead 120-113.  Seconds later, Surratt drew a foul for two more free throws at the 1:28 mark, sinking both and surpassing the single-game scoring mark as FMU held off the Trojans.
 
There have been only four 40-point games in the 54-year history of the Patriot program, and Surratt has two of them in the past four days.