WILSON, N.C. | Dominique Reed and JaQuan Blount combined to score 42 points as the University of Mount Olive men's basketball team picked up an 80-66 non-conference victory over Young Harris College Saturday (Nov. 14) afternoon at Wilson Gymnasium.
 
The Trojans, who have won their last 19 regular-season games, improved to 2-0 while Young Harris slipped to 0-2. The Mountain Lions open their home portion of their schedule Wednesday (Nov. 18) with a 7:30 p.m. contest against Clark Atlanta University at the YHC Basketball Arena.
 
The Mountain Lions took a 2-0 lead on a C.J. Wilson jumper on its first possession, but Blount nailed a three-pointer  on UMO's next possession to give the Trojans the lead they would never relinquish. That basket started a 19-4 run that saw the Trojans open a 19-6 lead with 14:53 remaining on a Dontrelle Brite three pointer.
 
"Mount Olive is a veteran team," said YHC head coach Pete Herrmann. "We are still trying to put our lineup together. We played hard, but not effective."
 
Young Harris cut the deficit down to eight points (21-13) on a Wilson jumper three minutes later, but the Trojans would take a 41-29 lead into the half. Again the Mountain Lions trimmed the lead to eight (46-38) after Wilson nailed a three-pointer with 16:33 to play, but again Mount Olive pushed out its lead to 17 points (65-48) on a Reed layup with 7:36 left.
 
"We cut the lead down to eight points a couple of times, but couldn't get any closer as we shot the ball poorly from three-point range," added Herrmann.
 
Reed led the Trojans with 22 points and eight rebounds while Blount tossed in 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Brite added 15 while Mike Moore added 13 points and seven rebounds.
 
Wilson led the Mountain Lions with 28 points, five rebounds and four assists while Ben Waterhouse contributed 11 points. Marques McKoy and Marcellus Roberts each finished with 10 points. McKoy and Bjorn Walker each grabbed eight rebounds while Roberts pulled down six.