Cunningham, Holmes lead USC Upstate past Jacksonville 91-85

Jan 19, 2018, 02:37 am

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- 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.