Box Score LAKELAND, Fla. – Byron Faison knocked downed a game-winning three-pointer with no time left on the clock to lead the 11th-ranked University of South Carolina Aiken men's basketball team to a 77-75 victory over fifth-ranked Florida Southern at Jenkins Field House.
Faison's game-winning trey improves the Pacers to 2-0 on the 2010-11 season. Florida Southern dropped to 1-2 on the year with the loss to the Pacers. The Pacer victory also snapped a two-game losing streak to the Mocs.
The win over Florida Southern improves USC Aiken to 9-7 against ranked foes over the last four seasons.
Re'mon Nelson (Canal Winchester, Ohio/Canal Winchester) got things going for the Pacers less than 20 seconds into the game with a three-pointer.
The early 3-0 lead by the Pacers would eventually be extended to as many as 12 points in the first half with USC Aiken owning a 12-point 39-27 lead after a Michael Technow (Boca Raton, Fla./American) lay-up with 3:51 remaining in the first stanza.
The Pacers would enter intermission with a seven-point lead at 42-35.
USC Aiken would continue to keep its lead well into the second half, owning an nine-point lead at 72-63 after a Sterling Council (Camden, S.C./Camden) lay-up with 4:06 remaining in the game.
From there, Florida Southern would proceed to go on a 12-2 run over the next four minutes. The 12-2 run ended with Cameron Wooten knocking down a three-pointer with four seconds remaining to give the Mocs only their second lead of the game at 75-74.
A preseason All-America selection, Faison (Sumter, S.C./Crestwood) then hit the buzzer-beating three-pointer with no time left on the clock to garner the Pacers the victory. He was assisted on the play by Council.
Four different Pacers finished in double figures in the victory with Nelson leading the way with 13 points. Nelson was 5-of-7 from the field in the game.
Council scored 12 in the win, going 6-of-9 from the floor. He had four assists with none bigger than setting up Faison for the game-winning three-pointer.
Technow continued his strong play against the Mocs for the second consecutive season in USC Aiken's win. Technow, who finished with a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds last year against Florida Southern, ended his efforts on Saturday with 11 points.
Kevin Willis (Atlanta, Ga./Kaskaskia) was the final Pacer in double digits with 10. He also procured six boards.
Four Mocs finished in double figures with Brandon Jenkins and Damon Ellison both scoring 17 to lead the way.
USC Aiken finished its victory shooting 52.4 percent (33-for-63). Florida Southern shot 46.2 percent (24-for-52) in its loss.
The Pacers only were able to knock down two three-pointers in the game, but the two bookend treys on Nelson's game-opener and Faison's game-winner were enough for the Pacers to secure the top 15 victory over the Mocs.
USC Aiken shot 75 percent (9-for-12) from the charity stripe in the game.
The Pacers will stay on the road next for an in-state showdown with Benedict on Tuesday, Nov. 23 in Columbia, S.C. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
