Box Score (.pdf)

Nashville, Tenn. – Mike Cunningham scored a career-high 23 points and Philip Whittington recorded his first career double-double as the USC Upstate men's basketball team scored a 92-91 overtime victory over the Lipscomb Bisons Saturday evening inside Allen Arena.

Upstate improves to 8-16 overall and 2-5 in the A-Sun, while Lipscomb falls to 7-17 on the season and 3-4 in conference play.

Cunningham set two more career-highs during the game as he made 11 free throws, tying him for fourth-most in the Division I era, and grabbed nine rebounds, while tying his career-high of six assists. Whittington set a career-high with 14 rebounds, 12 of which came on the defensive end, to go with 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Deion Holmes added 21 points.

J.C. Hampton was one of six Bisons to finish in double-figures as he had a team-high 17 points. Eli Pepper collected 11 rebounds.

Upstate held an early 5-2 lead over Lipscomb as Holmes connected on a three and Marvin Smith added a pair of free throws. The free throws by Smith gave the Spartans the three-point lead. Both teams would go scoreless over the next 3:03 until Whittington and Tristan Thomas combined for five straight points to give Upstate a 12-8 lead with 12:27 left on the jumper by Whittington.

The Spartans led by as many as five twice during the opening half with the last coming at the 9:48 mark when a layup from Michael Buchanan put them ahead 17-12. The Bisons answered with five straight points to tie the score at 17-17 one minute later. Upstate would go up four, 21-17, with 6:10 remaining on a Holmes jumper before Lipscomb posted four consecutive points to lead 22-21 just under two minutes later.

Whittington followed with the next six points for the Spartans to put them back ahead 27-24 at the 2:02 mark, and Josh Cuthbertson made it 30-26 less than a minute later. A free throw by Garrison Mathews with one second left sent Upstate into halftime leading 30-29.

The Bisons began the second half on an 8-1 run to take a 37-31 lead less than four minutes into the period. The Spartans fought back courtesy of a 16-4 run over the following 2:24 and took a 47-43 lead with 14:01 left on Cuthbertson's three-pointer. Cunningham made seven consecutive free throws during that stretch. The next eight minutes saw the score tied three times before Cunningham notched four straight to give Upstate a 57-52 lead with 7:10 left.

The Spartans led by four in the game's final four minutes when Holmes hit a three at the 3:37 mark to give Upstate a 64-60 advantage. Cunningham kept the lead at three, 73-70, with 37 seconds to go with his jumper, and then 76-73 in the final five seconds. Nathan Moran would be fouled attempting a three with less the one second on the clock and sent the game into overtime with his three free throws.

The Spartans built a five-point lead two minutes into the overtime period when a tip-in basket by Malik Moore put the score at 83-78. Lipscomb got to within two, 90-88, with 13 seconds remaining, but Holmes sealed the win for Upstate with a pair of free throws.

The Spartans finished the game shooting 44.3% (31-of-70) from the field while the Bisons had a 39.1% (25-of-64) shooting mark. Upstate outscored Lipscomb 12-9 in second chance points and 37-27 in points from the bench.

The Spartans travel to Kennesaw State Monday evening as they take on the Owls at 7 p.m. from the KSU Convocation Center.

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