BLUEFIELD, WV – Sophomore point guard Detrek Browning scored 24 points, including three key free throws in the final 30 seconds, as Francis Marion University withstood a second-half rally by Johnson C. Smith University to record an 83-80 victory, Friday evening (Nov. 27) in the opening game of the Currence Men's Basketball Classic.

FMU improves to 4-1 and will play the host, Bluefield State College, on Saturday at 4 p.m.  The next home contest for the Patriots will be Monday at 7 p.m. against St. Andrews University.

Browning hit on half of his 16 field goal attempts, was 3-of-7 from long distance, and hit 5-of-7 free throws, while also registering eight assists, six rebounds, and four steals.

Sophomore swingman A.J. Jackson came off the FMU bench to tally 19 points, only one shy of his career high, while connecting on 5-of-10 three-point attempts.  Junior guard Alante Fenner posted his first double-double as a Patriot with 13 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, while sophomore Mike Davis Jr. chipped in 10 points.

Diondre Pratt led Johnson C. Smith (4-2) with 16 points, while Stedmon Lemon added 15 points and seven rebounds.

Lemon opened the game with a dunk, but that would be JCSU's only lead of the contest.  Davis answered with a layup to tie the game and the Patriot lead quickly grew to 10-8 and later to 22-11 after a Browning inside hoop with 12:22 left in the half. 

The Francis Marion advantage swelled to 47-30 following a three-pointer by freshman Nick Talko with 1:17 left before halftime.  The Golden Bulls scored the final five points of the stanza to pull to within 47-35 at intermission.

FMU took its largest lead of the night at 58-40 after a three-pointer by Jackson three minutes into the second half.  After JCSU trimmed the margin to 58-47 with seven straight points, the Patriots pushed the lead back to 16 points following another three-pointer by Jackson with 12:20 remaining.

The Golden Bulls responded with an 18-6 spurt that cut the deficit to 74-70 with 5:13 left, but Davis answered with his own five-point run to give FMU a 79-70 advantage.  An 8-1 spurt by JCSU cut the lead to 80-78, but Christian Kirchman missed a free throw following the last bucket of the run which would have made it a one-point game with 40 ticks left.

Browning hit two free throws with 27 seconds left, and following a Kirchman layup with 6.5 ticks remaining, Browning made one of two charity tosses with four seconds left to give FMU an 83-80 lead.  JCSU's Dre Huntley missed a potential game-tying three-pointer at the final horn.  

Francis Marion shot 48.1 percent from the floor, including 10-of-24 from three-point territory, and connected on 21-of-32 free throws.  JCSU shot 48.4 percent from the field, but the Patriots held the Golden Bulls to only 3-of-17 from behind the three-point arc.  JCSU finished 15-of-23 at the foul line.