WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. - The University of the Cumberlands (UC) Men’s Basketball team is proving to the nation exactly why they are one of the best teams in the NAIA, moving to 10-0 on the season with a win Saturday against the Rams of Bluefield College. The Patriots came out on top 96-77, sitting them on top of the Mid-South Conference (MSC) going into the holiday break at 4-0. This is the first time the Patriots have started out 10-0 since 2008 and at that time MSC games did not begin until the second half of the season.

The Patriots jumped out from the opening tip, throwing down a half-court alley-oop from Ernie McCoy (Columbus, OH) to Benito Santiago Jr. (Coamo, Puerto Rico) to throw the crowd into a frenzy immediately. With electrifying play above the rim and aggressive shooting from behind the three-point line, Cumberlands took a commanding lead 52-35 going into halftime. Although the Rams fought hard and exhibited a couple of exciting spurs of offense, the Patriots proved to be too much for their new conference opponent, finishing them off 96-77.

Cumberlands demonstrated a complete team effort with four players reaching double digit figure scoring. Senior Antonio Bumpus (Columbus, OH) led all scores with 24 points while James Archie (Jackson, MS) shot a solid 5 for 8 from the three point line finishing with 21 points. Benito Santiago Jr. posted another impressive double-double scoring 16 points along 10 rebounds while Ernie McCoy chipped in 16 points of his own and dished out 8 assists.

The Patriots look to further their success outside of conference play, as they travel to Georgia to face Carver College on December 5 at 5:00 pm and Life University at 5:00 pm on December 6th.