Box Score AIKEN, SC – USC Aiken connected on five of its first six shots en route to a 13-0 game-opening run and the Pacers never trailed in a 90-74 win over Francis Marion University, Wednesday night (Jan. 11) in Peach Belt Conference men's basketball action.
Francis Marion (5-9, 1-5) will play host to the University of North Georgia on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
Patriot junior guard Detrek Browning scored a team-high 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting. In the process, he upped his career scoring total to 1,333 and passed former FMU great Robert Moore to move into 12th place on the program's career scoring list.
Three Patriots came off the bench to tally double-figure efforts: senior center Kenneth Jackson with 15 points and eight rebounds, junior forward Daniel Bridges with 10, and sophomore Brandon Parker with a career-high 10.
Jalin Barnes (23) and Christian Nobles (21) combined for 44 points to lead the Pacers (9-4, 3-3).
After the 13-0 start, which eventually became an 18-2 advantage, Francis Marion answered with an 11-0 spurt of its own to trim the deficit to 18-13 after a Nigel Holley three-pointer. USCA pushed the margin to 12 at 28-16, but again the Patriots rallied, this time to within three at 32-29 following a jumper by Bridges with 5:12 left in the first stanza.
USCA led 41-35 at halftime.
A three-pointer by Browning kept the margin at six (44-38) early in the second half, but the Pacers responded with a 9-0 run and the margin remained in double figures for the remainder of the contest.
The Pacers enjoyed a huge advantage at the free throw line, going 25-of-29 compared to FMU's 8-of-12. Francis Marion hit on 41.4 percent of its field goal attempts, including 8-of-31 three-point shots, while USCA shot 44.6 percent and was 7-of-25 from behind the arc.
1/11/17 7:30 p.m. at Aiken, S.C. (Convocation Center)
USC AIKEN 90, FRANCIS MARION 74
FRANCIS MARION (5-9; 1-5)
Detrek Browning 8-16 4-4 23; Kenneth Jackson 6-15 2-4 15; Daniel Bridges 5-8
0-0 10; Brandon Parker 4-10 0-0 10; Josh Council 3-5 0-0 7; Nigel Holley 1-5
1-2 4; Jaquez Smith 1-4 1-2 3; Judah Alexander 1-3 0-0 2; Warren Specht 0-3
0-0 0; John Jenkins 0-0 0-0 0; Douglas Dwight 0-0 0-0 0; Samson Nnaji 0-1
0-0 0. Totals 29-70 8-12 74.
USC AIKEN (9-4; 3-3)
Jalin Barnes 7-15 7-7 23; Christian Nobles 6-9 8-8 21; Mark Matthews 4-8 5-6
14; Robert Hill 6-7 1-1 13; Nenad Milenkovic 2-4 0-0 6; Paris Ballinger 2-4
0-0 5; Austin Grimes 1-3 2-2 4; Henry Bolton III 1-6 0-1 2; Kevin Chuisseu
0-3 1-2 1; Faison Brock 0-2 1-2 1; Raheem Freeman 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 29-65
25-29 90.
Halftime: USCA 41 Francis Marion 35
3-point goals--Francis Marion 8-31 (Detrek Browning 3-9; Brandon Parker 2-7;
Josh Council 1-3; Nigel Holley 1-1; Kenneth Jackson 1-7; Warren Specht 0-2;
Jaquez Smith 0-1; Daniel Bridges 0-1), USC Aiken 7-25 (Jalin Barnes 2-6;
Nenad Milenkovic 2-4; Christian Nobles 1-3; Paris Ballinger 1-2; Mark
Matthews 1-3; Faison Brock 0-1; Raheem Freeman 0-2; Henry Bolton III 0-2;
Austin Grimes 0-2). Fouled out--Francis Marion-None, USC Aiken-None.
Rebounds--Francis Marion 33 (Kenneth Jackson 8), USC Aiken 48 (Mark Matthews
13). Assists--Francis Marion 10 (Jaquez Smith 4), USC Aiken 14 (Jalin Barnes
3; Christian Nobles 3; Mark Matthews 3). Total fouls--Francis Marion 23, USC
Aiken 17. Technical fouls--None. A-791
