HERSHEY, Pa. – Finally catching a break with the weather and putting together a combined 4-under-par on the back nine at Hershey Links, the UT Tyler men's golf team shot a weekend-best 291 and jumped eight spots into a tie for seventh place to put themselves back in contention for a second consecutive Top 5 finish at nationals.

"We finally played like we've been playing all year," sixth-year head coach King Campbell said. "We got a break in the weather and it was really nice today. We feel pretty good about ourselves entering the final round and will hopefully hang in there and finish strong."

The Patriots opened with combined rounds of 307 and 309 on the first two days to make the cut of 23 teams, and sat in a tie for 11th place after day two, before getting in a groove the final nine holes today on the heels of freshman Joey Rippel who shot a 2-under-par 70 for UT Tyler's low round of the tournament so far.

Rippel made the turn at 1-over-par before birdies on 12, 13 and 18 to close the round at minus-2. Senior Brandon Ellis and junior Tynan Day also followed suite and birdied the Par 5 18th to finish their rounds strong, while as a team, the Patriots had nine birdies on the back nine.

Ellis' combined three-day score of 224 (76-76-72) has him in a tie for 23rd place individually.

Methodist University owns a 5-stroke lead over Huntingdon College entering the final 18 holes Friday, while Guilford, Oglethorpe and St. John's University are all within 15 strokes of the leader.