Hartsville, SC- In a game that on paper looked to be an easy win for the #17 ranked Mount Olive Trojans, Coker came out hard and gave the Trojans a run for their money. The Cobras lost Monday night’s game 71-58, but the game was much closer than the score indicates.

Mount Olive started strong, running up a  nine point lead after the first 10 minutes, but Coker would bounce back, starting with a Johnny Jackson three-pointer and foul, cutting the lead to only five. Then a quick two points by Abram Ludd and another Mt. Olive foul would bring Coker within two, and with Jackson second three-pointer in less than a minute, Coker took the lead.

The lead bounced back and forth for awhile, before senior Michael Pierce took control of the Coker offense and scored 10 of his 12 first half points. At the end of the half into Coker entered the locker room with a 31-25 lead. Coker capitalized off of Mount Olive’s mistakes, as the Trojans only shot 28 percent from the field in the first half, compared to Coker’s 53 percent.

The second half brought a renewed Trojan team to the floor, as they shot 57 percent from the field, but Coker managed to hang with them for the majority of the half. The Cobras got into foul trouble with nine minutes remaining and that’s when Mount Olive started to pull away. Coker sent the Trojans to the line 15 times in the second half, with Mount Olive making 12 of the shots. Coker looked to still have a chance with four minutes remaining they were only down by four, but Elton Coffield scored seven of his team leading 17 points in the last four minutes, putting the Cobras away.

With the loss Coker drops to 3-12 overall, and 2-7 in the CVAC, while Mount Olive improves to 13-3 on the year, and 7-2 in the CVAC.

Coker’s point leaders were Pierce and Jackson, each scoring 17 points, while Pierce added nine rebounds.

As for the Trojans, Coffield had 17 points, while Melvin Creddle added 11 points and 7 boards and Chris Bartley gave Mount Olive 12 points and three rebounds.

The Coker Cobras return to action on Thursday, January 26, as they travel to Anderson University in Anderson, SC. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.