CENTRAL, S.C. | An extremely efficient second half led the Mountain Lions to a 20-point road win over the Southern Wesleyan Warriors. The Mountain Lions shot 20/31 from the field, 5/7 from three and knocked down eight (8/9) from the stripe alone in the second half to pull away from the Warriors on the road. Carl Cleveland put together his eighth 30+ point scoring performance of the season while Cameron Bleshoy came away with his sixth double-double of the season.
The Mountain Lions advance to 13-6 overall and are 9-2 in Conference Carolinas. The Warriors move to 7-12 overall and are 4-8 in Conference Carolinas.
QUOTING HEAD COACH JEREMY CURRIER:
"Tonight was the most complete game we have played in 2026. We were good on both sides of the ball and held the second leading scoring team in Conference Carolinas to 14 points under their season average. SWU has been very good at home this year and our guys did a great job executing our game plan as seen by the +15 rebounding margin and 52 points scored in the paint. Everyone that went into the game gave us meaningful minutes, and I am so proud of the grit and resilience our team played with tonight."
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
-
Going into the 2026 calendar year, Justin Payne was averaging 13.5 points per game. Tonight, after his fifth consecutive game of scoring 20 or more points, he is all the way up to 17.5 a game. Payne is also 23 for his last 49 from beyond the three-point line and has seen a drastic increase in his three-point percentage over the last three weeks.
UP NEXT:
The Mountain Lions hit the road this coming Monday, February 2nd where they will take on North Greenville at 7PM.
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