Cunningham, Holmes lead USC Upstate past Jacksonville 91-85 (Jan 18, 2018)

By AP
Published

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) Mike Cunningham scored 14 of his 26 points in the final seven minutes to help USC Upstate pull away and beat Jacksonville 91-85 on Thursday night in its Atlantic Sun Conference home opener.

Deion Holmes scored 28 points on 11-of-19 shooting to lead USC Upstate (6-15, 1-3), which shot 57 percent from the field and snapped a four-game losing skid. Cunningham was 10 of 16 and made six of the Spartans' 11 3-pointers.

Jace Hogan scored 19 points to lead Jacksonville (9-12, 3-1). Devin Harris and Jalyn Hinton added 16 points apiece.

The game was tied at 70 when Cunningham and Holmes scored five points apiece and the Spartans led 80-70 with five minutes left. Cunningham answered Cody Helgeland's and JD Notae's 3-pointers with two of his own to keep the lead at 10 points. A 9-2 surge pulled Jacksonville to 88-85, but Cunningham hit another 3 with 24 seconds left to cap the scoring.