CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Momentum from a last-second win in the women's game carried over into the men's game Thursday night, as Campbellsville University's strong defense held the 14^th-ranked University of the Cumberlands at bay in a 68-53 home victory in Powell Athletic Center.

The sweep over the Patriots was the first since CU claimed the regular season MSC title in February 2010 with an overtime win over Cumberlands.

"It was big for us. Regardless of who the opponent is or what their ranking is, we have got to be good at home this next little stretch. To get the win at home was big for us, and we have to follow it up with a good performance on Saturday," CU head coach Keith Adkins said. "We go on the road for a conference game at Bluefield, but we come back home for conference games with Rio and Shawnee, two games we need to get. We end with five of seven on the road, so we have to handle this stretch with the utmost priority. If we can defend like we did tonight, we have a chance to win our games. If we have a slippage, we'll struggle to win our games."

The Tigers held the Patriots' to their worst offensive production of the season. Cumberlands shot a season-low 27.9 percent from the field and 22.7 from 3-point range, the second lowest 3-point percentage for the Pats this season.

CU seemed to individually take out each of the Patriots' top four leading scorers, which all average in double figures, and held them to a combined 36 points. The only top scorer to reach his season average in the game for Cumberlands' was James Archie, who led the Patriots with 11 points.

Campbellsville started the game strong, jumping out to a 7-2 lead, sparked by a Sean Scott 3-point off the opening tip. Scott scored a season-high 13 points and narrowly missed his first double-double as a Tiger by leading CU with eight rebounds. He also had four assists.

After taking a 7-2 lead though, Cumberlands slowly worked its way back into the game, tying it, 7-7, on a Steve Goins basket with 13 minutes left in the opening half.

Junior post player Chris Smith answered though, draining a 3 from the top of the key on the next trip down to keep the Tigers ahead, 10-7. Cumberlands never tied or led from then on.

After the Patriots pulled within two, 13-11, at the 10 minute mark, Campbellsville worked a 15-5 run to work its lead to double-figures for the first time on another 3 by Scott, 28-16. Scott also closed the half with a 3 to send the Tigers into halftime with a 33-23 lead.

Cumberlands attempted to hang around in the first eight minutes of the second half. The Patriots cut the Tigers' lead down to seven, 47-40, but that's when Justin Ennis and Jordan Myers responded with eight straight points, giving CU its largest lead of the game, 55-40.

"In the second half, one of the big differences was Jordan Myers' post play offensively. He came down and made a commitment," Adkins said. "I thought at that stretch of the game, we were trading baskets, to keep scoring was big for us."

CU went on to coast to victory, maintaining its double-digit lead for the last nine minutes of the contest.

Vernon Payne averaged nearly a point per minute to lead all scorers with 16 points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes played. Addison Smith joined Scott with 13 points, while Chris Smith finished the night with 10 points, including shooting 2-for-2 from beyond the arc.

The win maintains Campbellsville's spot at fifth-place in the MSC standings, but CU is now one game away from tying Cumberlands and Shawnee State University for third-place and is only two games behind No. 8 Lindsey Wilson for the No. 2 spot in the MSC.

"Right now, there is no one game that is more important than the others. By losing those three games immediately out of the break, we put ourselves in a position we need to get wins, and you have to win your home games to have a chance in this league. Every game is important from here on out and this was a good place to start," Adkins said.

CU (11-6, 5-4 MSC) will continue its home stand Saturday at 4 p.m. EST, playing host to Cumberland University (6-11, 2-7 MSC). Cumberlands will travel to Lindsey Wilson on Saturday at 5 p.m. EST.

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