FLORENCE, SC. — A 14-7 run by USC Aiken over the final 6:02 was enough to rally the Pacers past Francis Marion University 70-66, Wednesday night (Jan. 20) in Peach Belt Conference men's basketball action.
 
Francis Marion (2-3, 2-3) will play host to Young Harris College on Saturday.  The women's game will tip-off at 1:30 p.m. followed by the men's contest. Attendance will again be limited to 250 – only season ticket holders, player/staff family members identified on a pre-game pass list, and a limited number of students. No general admission game-day tickets will be sold.
 
Junior forward Langston Gaither, the conference's second-leading scorer, led FMU with 27 points while also dishing out a team-high five assists.  Senior swingman Holden Redparth, the PBC's third-leading scorer, tallied 11 points and five rebounds before fouling out with 4:46 remaining.
 
Patriot junior Alex Cox added seven points, while sophomore forward Darius Dawson, a West Florence High School product, added six points and pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds.  Freshman guard Ja'Von Anderson also scored six points.
 
Senior 6-7 forward Anyeuri Castillo led USCA (4-2, 3-1) with 16 points, while both Latreavin Black (14 points, 13 rebounds) and Jakobi Pearson (11 points, 10 rebounds) posted double-doubles.
 
FMU led by as many as nine, 27-18 after a banked-in three-pointer from the top of the key by Dawson at the 5:05 mark, during the opening half.  A stick-back bucket by Anderson accounted for a 36-29 Patriot advantage at the halftime horn.
 
The margin swelled to 11 points at 48-37 following a step-back triple by Gaither with 14:11 left.  USCA responded with a 12-3 spurt to trim the deficit to 51-49 at the 11:37 mark.
 
A steal and driving layup by Gaither kept FMU in front at 59-56 with 6:28 remaining.  The Pacers scored 10 of the game's next 12 points to take the lead for good at 66-61.
 
Four consecutive missed free throws in the final nine seconds allowed Francis Marion a chance to win or tie the game.  However, a 30-footer by Anderson was off the mark in the final second and USCA added a pair of free throws to seal the win.
 
Francis Marion connected on 40 percent of its field goal attempts, including nine three-pointers, and made 9-of-13 free throws.  USCA shot 41.8 percent from the floor, but made only 9-of-21 free throw attempts.  The Pacers were held to 5-of-26 shooting from behind the arc.

 
 
01/20/21 6:00 pm at Florence, SC
S.C. AIKEN 70, FRANCIS MARION 66
S.C. AIKEN (4-2,2-1 Peach Be)
Anyeuri Castillo 7-15 0-0 16; Latreavin Black 6-9 2-9 14; Gus Rowland 5-12
2-3 13; Tyler Johnson 5-8 0-0 11; Jakobi Pearson 3-14 5-9 11; Tehree Horn
1-2 0-0 3; Quincy Canty 1-3 0-0 2; Donaven Hairston 0-3 0-0 0; Darius Bell
0-0 0-0 0; Jalen McCoy 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-67 9-21 70.
FRANCIS MARION (2-3,2-3 Peach Be)
Langston Gaither 9-23 5-6 27; Holden Redparth 4-8 1-1 11; Alex Cox 3-7 0-0
7; Ja'Von Anderson 3-9 0-0 6; Darius Dawson 2-5 1-2 6; Jamal Edmonson 1-5
2-3 4; Ben Jones 1-1 0-0 3; Uhana Ochan 1-2 0-1 2. Totals 24-60 9-13 66.
S.C. Aiken....................    29   41  -   70
Francis Marion................  36   30  -   66
3-point goals--S.C. Aiken 5-26 (Anyeuri Castillo 2-8; Tyler Johnson 1-4;
Tehree Horn 1-2; Gus Rowland 1-3; Donaven Hairston 0-1; Jalen McCoy 0-1;
Quincy Canty 0-1; Jakobi Pearson 0-6), Francis Marion 9-29 (Langston Gaither
4-12; Holden Redparth 2-5; Darius Dawson 1-2; Alex Cox 1-4; Ben Jones 1-1;
Jamal Edmonson 0-1; Ja'Von Anderson 0-4). Fouled out--S.C. Aiken-None,
Francis Marion-Holden Redparth; Alex Cox. Rebounds--S.C. Aiken 45 (Latreavin
Black 13), Francis Marion 37 (Darius Dawson 14). Assists--S.C. Aiken 18 (Gus
Rowland 6), Francis Marion 11 (Langston Gaither 5). Total fouls--S.C. Aiken
15, Francis Marion 22. Technical fouls--None. A-148