Cumberland dominates; Patriots fall in opener

     The game was dominated by Southern State sophomore and Hillsboro graduate Tirrell Cumberland who opened the 2009-10 Patriots season with a 47 point effort, but it was Wright-Patterson Air Force Base who gained the win, defeating SSCC 116-99 Monday evening at the Patriot Center, in Hillsboro.

     Cumberland finished the game with six 3-pointers, and was 11 of 13 from the free-throw line. He scored 23 points in the first half, and made 8 of 9 shots from the foul line in the second half.

     “Tirrell came to play (Monday),” Southern State men’s head coach Ted Creamer said. “They were boxing him, doubling him and playing tough, but he still put up 47 against a veteran team.”

     At the start of the contest the Patriots jumped out to an early 8-0 lead with Cumberland, Andrew McKay (Fairfield), and Josh Hawk (Lynchburg-Clay) building the advantage within the first two minutes of the game.

     After WPAFB cut the lead in half, Cumberland drained his second 3-pointer of the game, followed with a jumper for the next SSCC score.

      At the 15:10 mark of the first half, Hawk made the score 17-10 with a put back basket. His shot was followed by a layup from Cumberland for a nine point lead.

     In the middle stages of the first half, after WPAFB cut the SSCC lead to one point at 25-24, Jeremy Bennington put the Patriots ahead by three points with a basket.

     WPAFB took the lead with 10:16 left in the first half at 30-27, but the Patriots rallied to tie the game at 30 with points from Devon Smith and Hawk.

     Cumberland nailed his third trifecta with 4:28 left in the first half, bringing the Patriots within one point of WPAFB, but again, the veteran team added to their lead at 43-40.

     SSCC tied the game at 43, but WPAFB took the lead into the half at 53-47.

     “We just have to realize we have to play good defense each and every time we are on the court, for the entire game,” Creamer said. “We have a young team with 10 freshmen tonight, but we have the potential to be a high scoring team.”

     WPAFB started off the second half extending their lead to 69-54.

     With 15:43 left in the game, Wayne Noble converted a put back basket for the Patriots. Cumberland followed with another 3-point basket, and later in the half, Tyler Jimison (North Adams) made a basket for SSCC.

     WPAFB then went on an 11-0 run, until Cumberland broke it up with two free throws with 7:47 left in the game.

     SSCC had one final run with their up-tempo brand of basketball going on an 11-2 run, making the score 98-89, to trail by nine points.

     Cumberland scored point No. 47 with 25 seconds remaining in the game.

     “We like to play up-tempo, but we didn’t play fast enough to wear them out,” Creamer said. “When we slowed down, they dominated us in the middle court.”

     SSCC will play again Friday as they travel to Edison.

     WPAFB was led by Jay Frantz with 31 points.

SCORE BY HALF

WPAFB – 53 63 – 116

SSCC – 47 52 – 99

INDIVIDUAL SCORING

SSCC (99)

T.Cumberland 9 (6) 11-13 47, T.Jimison 5 0-2 10, S.Evans 0 2-2 2, A.McKay 3 3-4 9, C.NeHuss 1 2, C.Furman 0 1-2 1, D.Smith 3 1-2 7, J.Bennington 3 6, J.Hankerson 1 2-2 4, J.Hawk 3 3-4 9, W.Noble 1 2. TOTALS: 29 (6) 23-31 99.