Saints denied homecourt edge

Limestone’s Shawn Poppie and his teammates will play at Queens on Wednesday in a second-round tourney game. Ledger Sports Editor

If the Saints are to advance in the conference tournament, then they’ll have to do it on the road.

That’s because Limestone missed its chance to host a second-round tournament game after suffering an 89-66 loss at Mount Olive Saturday.

The loss drops the Saints into a fourth place tie with Queens in the conference standings.

But the Saints must play at Queens in a second-round matchup Wednesday because the Royals hold the season edge over Limestone.

Sharome Holloway led five players in double figures in the Trojans’ lopsided win.

Mount Olive jumped to a 16-4 lead in the game’s first three minutes.

The Saints answered with a run to pull within 24-20 on Marquintus Jones’ three-pointer. But the Trojans scored the game’s next eight points to build a double digit lead.

Mount Olive extended its lead to 41-25 with 2:55 left before halftime on Holloway’s dunk.

The Saints trimmed the deficit to 10 early in the second half, but Elijah Rouse scored the Trojans’ next eight points to spark a 14-5 run.

Limestone roared back to within 67-61 on three-pointers by Alex Bailey, Kenny White and Antonio Golden. But the Trojans regained the momentum with a decisive 22-3 run to put the game away.

Sumner Benton led all Saints with 18 points.

In women’s action, Mount Olive earned a series split by hanging on for a 57-54 victory. With just nine seconds remaining, the Lady Saints missed a chance to send the game into overtime with a basket.

Tiffany Jones led all scorers with 14 points.

The teams will play again tonight in first-round tourney action at Mount Olive.