USC Aiken Upsets #10 Benedict

AIKEN, S.C. (BC SID) — The USC Aiken Pacers dominated the rebounding to upset the 10th-ranked Benedict College Tigers 83-71 in a NCAA Division II men’s college basketball game Saturday at the Convocation Center. Aiken outrebounded the Tigers 43-24, including 21-6 on the offensive end. The Pacers were able to score 15 second-chance points by controlling the offensive glass. Marcus Goode led Benedict with 21 points and had a team-high six rebounds, but none in the second half. Goode also had five blocked shots. Rickie Jackson added 19 points, hitting 5-of-10 3-pointers, and added five rebounds. The Tigers dropped to 3-1 on the season. USC Aiken improved to 4-1 overall, who beat a ranked opponent for the seventh time in 10 attempts over the last three seasons. “You just aren’t going to win games against a really, really good team by giving up that many rebounds” said Benedict coach Fred Watson. “That is probably one of the best teams we’re going to see this year. We only got 50 shot attempts to their 70. You’re not going to beat teams like that.” The Tigers shot 54 percent for the game (27-of-50), while USC Aiken shot 46.3 percent (31-of-67). Benedict also had 16 turnovers to nine for the Pacers. “We actually shot the ball pretty well,” Watson said. “We just didn’t match their intensity on the boards. We played hard, but they were the better team tonight.” The Pacers placed five players in double figures, with Chase Holmes and Joel Gierbolini scoring 12 points each. Jesse Seilern had nine rebounds, while Gierbolini added eight. The Pacers had a 39-33 lead at the half, but quickly built the lead to double-digits in the second half. The Pacers took their biggest lead at 64-46 with 10:15 left to play. The Tigers were able to trim the lead to 74-65 after Mark Young hit one of two free throw attempts with two minutes left in the game. USC Aiken’s Terrance Dent followed with a 3-pointer to put the Pacers back up by a dozen and the Tigers couldn’t get the lead under double digits the rest of the way. Benedict’s only lead came early in the game, after a Goode jumper for a 4-3 advantage. The Pacers scored the next nine points for a 12-4 lead and never trailed the rest of the game. USC Aiken’s biggest lead in the first half came with 11:23 left on a dunk by Holmes for a 25-13 advantage. The Tigers were able to cut the lead to 35-33 with 1:36 left in the first half on a pair of free throws by Jackson. The Pacers closed out the first half by getting a layup off a steal and then a layup after an offensive rebound to take a 39-33 lead into the locker room. The Tigers now take a break before returning to action on January 2 against Clark Atlanta in Atlanta. The Tigers expect to have All-Conference point guard Xavier Collier back in the lineup after his fractured wrist heals. The Tigers also are planning to add some players to the lineup who were not eligible in the first semester. “We would have had a better opportunity with our starting point guard,” Watson said. “If we were to see them again, I think we’d give them a better game.”