Claflin Knocks Off Rival Benedict, 77-58

COLUMBIA, S.C. (BC SID) — The Benedict Tigers dropped their third straight game, falling 77-58 to rival Claflin College in front of a packed house at the Benjamin E. Mays HRC Arena on Thursday night. It was a near reversal of their first meeting, when the Tigers took a 76-59 victory in Orangeburg on January 4. The loss dropped the Tigers to 8-6 overall and 7-5 in the SIAC. Claflin improved to 7-10 overall and 7-9 in the SIAC. Antrjuan Albright led the Tigers with 22 points, hitting five 3-pointers. Allen Elmore added a season-high 10 points. Marcus Goode, the nation’s sixth-leading scorer entering the game, was held to just five points and three shot attempts. Goode did have a team-high eight rebounds. The two squads ended the first half nearly identical. Claflin had a 27-26 advantage. Both teams made nine field goals, although Claflin had two more shot attempts. They were matched 4-for-12 on 3-point attempts. Claflin had five free-throws to Benedict’s four for the one-point halftime advantage. But the Panthers got hot in the second half, with Terrence Bowman scoring 12 of his 16 points in the second half and Edward Green scored 11 of his 17 points in the second half. An early second-half seven-point run, capped off by a 3-pointer by Bowman, gave the Panthers a 34-27 lead. Another Bowman 3-pointer put Claflin ahead 39-29. The Tigers could not cut the lead to less than seven points the rest of the way. A 9-0 run by Claflin gave the Panthers a 55-39 lead with 7:17 left to play. Benedict hits the road for a pair of games, traveling to Tuskegee on Saturday and Stillman on Monday.