FLORENCE, SC – Sophomore center Winston Hill posted his second straight 30-point outing, junior forward Keith Matthews notched 21 points, and senior point guard Jaquez Smith nearly registered the third triple-double in program history to lead Francis Marion University to an 83-75 win over Georgia Southwestern State University, Saturday afternoon (Feb. 1) in Peach Belt Conference men's basketball play.

FMU will play host to USC Aiken on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

Coming off a career-high 31-point performance on Wednesday at UNC Pembroke, Hill posted 30 points, on 13-of-23 shooting, and pulled down eight rebounds.  Matthews also hauled down eight boards to go with his 21 points, one shy of his career high also set last Wednesday at UNCP.

Smith scored nine points, dished out nine assists, and gathered a career-high 10 rebounds, while FMU freshman swingman Ja'Lil Robinson added 13 points and six rebounds.

A trio of Hurricanes (Jamari Dean, Abdul Dial, Soloman Thomas) scored 17 points apiece to lead Georgia Southwestern.

The Patriots led the majority of the opening half.  A 16-5 spurt late in the half gave FMU a 41-29 advantage, before two GSW free throws trimmed the margin to 10 at halftime.

Francis Marion led by as many as 11 points in the second half, but GSW cut the margin to 74-72 with 2:45 remaining.  FMU scored nine of the game's final 12 points to send the Homecoming crowd of 1,889 home happy.  Two free throws each by Smith and Matthews in the final 12 seconds helped seal the victory.

Francis Marion connected on 44.3 percent of its field goal attempts and was 15-of-19 at the free throw stripe.  The Patriots held the Hurricanes to 41.7 percent shooting, while GSW made 17-of-23 free throws.  FMU also held a 46-30 advantage in points-in-the-paint, a 17-6 edge in points-off-turnovers, and a 16-5 margin in second-chance points.

02/01/20 3:30 pm at Florence, SC (Smith University Center)
FRANCIS MARION 83, GA. SOUTHWESTERN 75
GA. SOUTHWESTERN (8-10,3-9 Peach B)
Jamari Dean 7-15 2-2 17; Soloman Thomas 6-16 2-2 17; Abdul Dial 4-13 8-13
17; Kahlon Whitley 5-7 5-6 15; Josh Press 3-5 0-0 9; Brandon Franklin 0-2
0-0 0; Ray'Shawn Dotson 0-0 0-0 0; Devon Higgs 0-1 0-0 0; Christian Palmer
0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-60 17-23 75.
FRANCIS MARION (4-15,3-9 Peach B)
Winston Hill 13-23 4-8 30; Keith Matthews 6-16 8-8 21; Ja'Lil Robinson 5-11
1-1 13; Jaquez Smith 3-10 2-2 9; Alex Cox 3-7 0-0 8; Jamal Edmonson 1-2 0-0
2; Trey Jones 0-0 0-0 0; Gabriel Dickerson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 31-70 15-19 83.
Ga. Southwestern..............   31   44  -   75
Francis Marion................   41   42  -   83
3-point goals--Ga. Southwestern 8-21 (Soloman Thomas 3-8; Josh Press 3-4;
Abdul Dial 1-4; Jamari Dean 1-2; Brandon Franklin 0-1; Kahlon Whitley 0-2),
Francis Marion 6-24 (Alex Cox 2-5; Ja'Lil Robinson 2-7; Jaquez Smith 1-7;
Keith Matthews 1-4; Gabriel Dickerson 0-1). Fouled out--Kahlon Whitley;
Jamari Dean; Rebounds--GSW 40 (Jamari Dean 13), FMU 37 (Jaquez Smith
10). Assists--GSW 15 (Kahlon Whitley 6), Francis Marion 22 (Jaquez Smith 9).
Total fouls--GSW 19, FMU 17. Technical fouls--None. A-1889