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FLORENCE, S.C. - Even with senior forward Liki Turner registering his second double-double in as many games, Francis Marion University could never quite recover from a slow start against USC Aiken on Wednesday night (Jan. 4), falling 71-49 in Peach Belt Conference men's basketball action.

The Patriots (6-5, 2-2) saw the Pacers (9-2, 3-0) jump out to an early 20-6 lead at the 13:06 mark of the first- half on a layup by Joel Gierbolini. The bucket followed one of Francis Marion's 30 turnovers on the evening.

FMU fell behind by as many as 17 in the first half, at 31-14, when Re'mon Nelson sank a pair of free throws with 6:13 left.

Francis Marion clawed back to within 31-21 just three minutes later when freshmen guard Clayton Williams drilled a three-pointer from the top-of-the-key.  That would be as close as the Patriots would get though as USCA expanded the margin to 16 at intermission, 37-21.

Francis Marion trailed by 15 points, 46-31, after a three-pointer by Marcus Wright with14:36 left, but the Pacers answered with 11 straight points to balloon the lead to 57-31.

USCA, ranked fourth nationally in turnover margin, scored 34 points off the Patriot miscues.  The Pacers also outscored FMU 42-18 in the paint.

Turner finished the evening as the Patriots' lone scorer in double-figures with 17 points, while hauling down 15 rebounds to go along with three assists. Williams was second on the team with a career-high nine points on 4-of-4 shooting, and Wright added seven points.

FMU returns to action Saturday afternoon as it hosts Clayton State University in a PBC clash with tip-off set for 3:30 pm in the Smith University Center.

Gierbolini led USCA with 16 points and 13 rebounds off the Pacer bench, while Chase Holmes and Sterling Council each tallied 11 points.

1-4-12 7:40 pm at Florence, SC (Smith University Center)
USC AIKEN 71, FRANCIS MARION UNIVERSITY 49

USC AIKEN (9-2, 3-0 PBC)
Joel Gierbolini 7-13 2-6 16; Sterling Council 4-10 3-3 11; Chase Holmes 5-15
1-2 11; Re'mon Nelson 3-7 3-6 9; Rick Alderman 3-5 0-0 6; Ronald Zimmerman
0-2 6-8 6; Maurice Hubbard 2-4 1-1 5; Jesse Seilern 1-3 2-2 4; Jeremiah
Pojah 1-2 0-0 2; Marquett Carr 0-0 1-2 1; Arlen Wiley 0-0 0-0 0. Totals
26-61 19-30 71.
FRANCIS MARION UNIVERSITY (6-5, 2-2 PBC)
Liki Turner 4-13 7-11 17; Clayton Williams 4-4 0-1 9; Marcus Wright 2-6 2-2
7; Marcel Williams 2-5 2-2 6; Evrik Gary 1-6 1-3 4; Andrew Smith 2-3 0-0 4;
Sam Caron 1-2 0-0 2; Zamarius McLendon 0-1 0-0 0; Darryn Frazier 0-3 0-0 0;
Maurice Grant 0-1 0-0 0; Derek Hosey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-44 12-19 49.
Halftime: USC Aiken 37  Francis Marion 21
3-point goals--USC Aiken 0-4 (; Chase Holmes 0-1; Ronald Zimmerman 0-2;
Jesse Seilern 0-1), Francis Marion University 5-15 (Liki Turner 2-5; Clayton
Williams 1-1; Marcus Wright 1-3; Evrik Gary 1-3; Darryn Frazier 0-3). Fouled
out--USC Aiken-Jeremiah Pojah, Francis Marion University-None. Rebounds--USC
Aiken 35 (Joel Gierbolini 13), Francis Marion University 37 (Liki Turner
15). Assists--USC Aiken 11 (Re'mon Nelson 4), Francis Marion University 8
(Liki Turner 3). Total fouls--USC Aiken 20, Francis Marion University 24.
Technical fouls--None. A-175