Box Score AUGUSTA, Ga.--USC Upstate (22-6) used an 18-2 run inside the final eight minutes to break open a 48-45 game and pull away with the 75-55 win over USC Aiken (7-21) in the quarterfinal round of the 2005 Peach Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament at the Christenberry Fieldhouse. The Spartans, the top seed out of the North and the regular season PBC Co-Champions, downed the Pacers for the third-time this season. 

After advancing to the quarterfinals for the fifth time in the last seven seasons, USC Aiken's season comes to a close. 

"I thought our kids played hard in the first half but we ran out of gas in the second half and lost our intensity," said USCA interim head coach Steve Franklin. "We turned the ball over too much. Coming in, we knew we had to win the battle of the boards and keep our turnovers below theirs, and we didn't do either." 

Trailing 8-4, the Pacers scored eight-straight points capped by a pair of free throws by Josh Poston to take a 12-8 lead with 11:01 left in the first half. Luke Payne converted a bucket in the paint with 5:29 remaining to give USC Upstate its largest first half advantage at 21-16 but Richard Blocker drained a trey and Poston hit two more charity tosses as USCA tied the game 21-21 exactly one minute later. 

Erikas Kaupaitis had an offensive putback with 5.6 on the clock to put the Spartans up 31-30 at the break. The competitive first half featured seven ties and five lead changes.

Blocker led the Pacers with 18 points on 6-of-15 shooting including 3-of-7 from deep. Poston added 11 points and four assists off the bench. 

Blocker canned a triple 14 seconds into the second half to give USCA back the lead 33-31, but USC Upstate went on a 12-2 run capped by C.J. Paul's three-pointer with 12:33 to play to surge back in front for the final time 45-35. Blocker scored only three more points the rest of the way while Paul poured in 13 of his 18 in the second stanza. 

USC Aiken did rally back to trim the margin to 48-45 on a Poston jumper with 7:59 on the clock, but the Spartans put the game away with a decisive 18-2 run over the next five minutes capped by a Jay Free three with 3:08 to play ballooning the margin to 66-47. Free led all scorers with 20 points on 6-of-10 from long range off the Spartan bench. For the game, USC Upstate's bench outscored the Pacers' reserves 46-26.

Marcus Robinson chipped in nine points for USCA while Franchot Brown grabbed 11 of the team's 35 rebounds. As a team, USC Aiken shot 35.4 percent from the field including 4-of-15 from downtown (26.7 percent). 

Charleston Long added 10 points for USC Upstate while Ivica Grgurovic pulled down 12 of the team's 41 boards. The Spartans connected on 11-of-28 three-point attempts for the game including 7-of-13 in the second half. 

USC Aiken closes the 2004-05 season at 7-21 and does not lose any seniors off their squad for next year. USC Upstate will advance to Saturday night's second semifinal versus the winner of Clayton State and Augusta State for a berth in the 2005 PBC Tournament Championship game on Sunday.

Newspaper Box Score
USC Aiken vs USC Upstate
03/04/05 6:00 pm at Augusta, Ga. (Christenberry Fieldhouse)
USC UPSTATE 75, USC AIKEN 55

USC AIKEN (7-21)
Blocker, Richard 6-15 3-4 18; Poston, Josh 2-3 6-6 11; Robinson, Marcus 4-6 1-3 9; Brown, Franchot 1-3 3-4 5; Geyer, Josh 2-8 0-1 4; Glover, Richard 0-0 4-4 4; Coates, Arnold 1-1 0-0 2; Sampson, Anthony 1-5 0-1 2; Boyd, Trent 0-2 0-0 0; Burr, Kenny 0-5 0-0 0; Oates, Theo 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-48 17-23 55.

USC UPSTATE (22-6)
Free, Jay 7-15 0-0 20; Paul, C.J. 5-7 4-4 18; Long, Charleston 4-10 2-2 10; Payne, Luke 3-10 1-4 8; Byrd, Jeremy 1-3 6-8 8; Kaupaitis, Erikas 2-2 1-1 5; Stevens, Richie 1-5 0-0 2; Merriweather, Lamario 1-1 0-1 2; O'Neal, Charlie 0-2 1-2 1; Grgurovic, Ivica 0-4 1-2 1; Brown, Josh 0-0 0-2 0; Robinson, Jesse 0-0 0-0 0; Joshua, Jonathan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-59 16-26 75. 

USC Aiken..................... 30 25 - 55
USC Upstate................. 31 44 - 75

3-point goals-USC Aiken 4-15 (Blocker, Richard 3-7; Poston, Josh 1-2; Geyer, Josh 0-3; Burr, Kenny 0-3), USC Upstate 11-28 (Free, Jay 6-10; Paul, C.J. 4-5; Payne, Luke 1-6; Long, Charleston 0-4; Stevens, Richie 0-2; Byrd, Jeremy 0-1). Fouled out--USC Aiken-Coates, Arnold, USC Upstate-Byrd, Jeremy. Rebounds-USC Aiken 35 (Brown, Franchot 11), USC Upstate 41 (Grgurovic, Ivica 12). Assists-USC Aiken 9 (Poston, Josh 4), USC Upstate 17 (Payne, Luke 5). Total fouls-USC Aiken 21, USC Upstate 21. A-357.