Box Score AIKEN, S.C.--USC Aiken picked up its second win of the season by beating Catawba College, 73-65, tonight in the second game of the Phillips 66 Christmas Classic at "The Courthouse" in Aiken, S.C.  Lee Burton led the Pacers with a game-high 18 points.  Kevin Petty's 14 points served as the team-high for the Indians.  In the first game, Augusta State defeated Belmont Abbey, 75-67. 
  
The Pacers took a 10-point lead, 33-23, into the locker room at the half.  Two Bryant Latimer free throws 59 seconds into the second half extended the lead to 12 points.  A jumper by Latimer, after Taurus Watson drew a charge, gave the Pacers their largest lead of the night at 14 points, 39-25, with 14:29 left in the game.  USCA would hold a 14-point advantage on two more occasions in the second half. 
  
The Indians used an 8-2 run to cut the Pacer lead under double digits.  Petty's two free throws capped the run and got Catawba to within eight points, 43-35, with 12:25 remaining.  USC Aiken answered with a 7-1 run to push their lead back to 14 points, 50-36.  Todd Williams had four of the seven Pacer points during the run. 
  
The Indians put together another run, this time they outscored USCA 14-2 in just over three minutes to cut the Pacer lead to two points, 52-50, with 6:41 to go in the game.  Four free throws and a three-pointer by Petty accounted for seven of the Indians 14 points.  The Pre-Season All-South Atlantic Conference guard hit just two shots from the field, both three-pointers, but hit all eight of his free throw attempts to finish with 14 points.  He also grabbed three rebounds and dished out three assists. 
  
The Pacers responded with seven unanswered points to go back up on top by nine points, 61-52, with 4:12 to go.  Burtonconcluded the run with two free throws.  The junior connected on all 12 of his free throw attempts on the night.  He brought down four rebounds to go along with his game-high 18 points.
Catawba would cut the Pacer lead to six points on four occasions over the final three and a half minutes but they would get no closer.  USC Aiken made all 10 of their free throws in the final minute to seal the victory. 
  
The home team put together a 6-0 run in the first half to break an 8-8 tie.  Burton scored all six of the Pacer's points to put USCA ahead 14-8 with 11:31 left in the half. 
  
Two free throws by Brian Frasier cut the USC Aiken lead to three points, 21-18, with 5:07 remaining in the first.  Minda Statkus scored the next eight Pacer points as USCA went ahead 29-21 with 3:33 to go before intermission.  Statkus tied his USCA career high with 15 points on the night. 
  
In all, four Pacers recorded double figure point totals.  Todd Williams tied his season-high with 16 points against the Indians.  He also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.  Latimer joined Burton, Williams and Statkus by scoring 15 of his own.  The junior also dished out a career high eight assists. 
  
Watson's jumper as time expired in the first half set the halftime score at 33-23. 
  
On the night the Pacers shot 45.1 percent (23-of-51) from the floor while holding the Indians to 34.5 percent shooting (20-of-58).  USCA out rebounded Catawba, 39-37. 
  
The Pacers will play again Friday, day two of the Phillips 66 Christmas Classic, at "The Courthouse" in Aiken, S.C.  USC Aiken will play Belmont Abbey College at 8:00 p.m.  That game will follow a match-up between Augusta State and Catawba College which tips-off at 6:00 p.m.

In the opening game of the 2002 Phillips 66 Christmas Classic, Augusta State (3-4) University handed Belmont Abbey College (5-1) their first loss of the season, 75-67.  The Jaguars were led by Jermale Wilkerson's 20 points.  He shot 4-for-8 from the field and 6-of-8 from the free throw line.  Marty Dunham and Darrick Broddie added 13 and 12 points respectively while David Siebrands chipped in 11 points.  The Crusaders got ten points each from Shaun Taylor and John Gordon.  ASU shot 56.8 percent (21-for-37) from the floor for the game.

SCORING: 
Catwba College (65):  Helgi Magnusson 8, Brian Carter 13, Alex Luyk 13, Brian Frasier 4, Duke Phipps 7, Jolly Manning 4, Kevin Petty 14, Chris Everett 2
USC Aiken (73):  Taurus Watson 3, Bryant Latimer 15, Jamall Gray 4, Lee Burton 18, Eric Dugans 2, Todd Williams 16, Minda Statkus 15