AIKEN, S.C. – In his six seasons as the head mentor for the University of South Carolina Aiken men's basketball team Vince Alexander has won the Peach Belt Conference regular season title, the PBC tournament and led the Pacers to the NCAA tournament three years in a row and Monday evening he recorded his 100th win as the Pacers defeated the Saints of Flagler College 78-72 at the Convocation Center in league action.

It was only fitting for Alexander to achieve the century mark at home as he has made the Convocation Center one of the toughest venues for opposing teams to find a win at since first opening the doors prior to the 2007-08 season. The Pacers are now 43-10 during the regular inside the friendly confines of the Convocation Center.

With Coach Alexander's 100th win, the Pacers improve to 13-7 (7-6 PBC) while the Saints fall even further into an eight-game losing skid at 9-11 (3-9 PBC).

The win also helped move the Pacers up in the current PBC East standings from fifth to a tie for second with Armstrong Atlantic State as the Pirates fell to Lander Monday evening in Greenwood, S.C.

USC Aiken fell behind early in the contest, trailing Flagler by a mere three points until Byron Faison drove to the hoop with a layup to pull within one.

Alvin Brown put the Pacers back on top just moments later with a pair of free throws as he was a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe in the opening stanza.

The Pacers worked to continue to build their lead and find some form of rhythm throughout the rest of the first half of regulation, extending their lead to eight points at the 4:46 mark off a layup by Chase Holmes.

USC Aiken entered halftime with a four-point, 43-39, lead over the Saints. The Pacers shot 51.5 percent (17-33) from the field while the Saints were close behind with 47.1 percent (16-34) shooting performance in the opening stanza.

The Pacers came out of the intermission and controlled the early going in the second half, going up by as many as 11 points (60-49) with just over 11 minutes left in regulation, but the Saints would not go quietly into the night.

Flagler pulled to within three points with 2:43 left on the game clock before Chad July hit a jumper to bring the score within just a single point with 2:07 left.

Byron Faison responded just 10 seconds later with a high-arcing three-pointer from the left side to extend the Pacers' lead back out to four.

With the score even closer at 74-72 and a mere 43 seconds remaining on the game clock, D.J. Ferguson went to the free-throw line for a 1-and-1 opportunity to tie the game, but missed his shot attempt which bounced off the rim into the waiting hands of Jesse Seilern (Innsbruck, Austria/Kapfenberg).

After Brown knocked down both of his free-throws on the ensuing possession, and with only 17.3 seconds on the clock, the Saints made a mad dash down the court only to give the ball right back to the Pacers.

Seilern put the finishing touch on Alexander's century mark win, icing the score for good as he streaked down the court for a final time and slammed home a dunk with five ticks left.

Every player in the home white uniforms scored in the contest with a quartet of Pacers recording double-digit points. Brown (Fort Washington, Md./James Madison) was the Pacers' top producer in the contest as he just missed out on a double-double with 15 points, eight boards and four blocks.

Holmes (Chesnee, S.C./Presbyterian) and Faison (Sumter, S.C./Winthrop) were both close behind with 14 points each. Kevin Willis (Atlanta, Ga./Kaskaskia) was the final Pacer in double-figures, just missing out on the double-double performance as he knocked down 13 points and corralled in eight boards of his own.

Ferguson had a double-double performance as he led all scorers with 20 points and 10 assists in the game while three other saints secured double-digit points. July also recorded a double-double with 16 points and a game-high 10 rebounds while John Pietkiewicz had 17 points and Kenny Moore added 14 of his own.

USC Aiken outscored Flagler 34-1 off the bench and shot 49.1 percent (28-57) from the field while the Saints were close behind with a 45.0 percent (27-60) shooting performance.

USC Aiken athletic director Randy Warrick, Chancellor Dr. Thomas Hallman and head softball coach Jerry Snyder honored three-time All-American catcher Jessica Strickland at halftime of the game by retiring her No. 18 jersey. Strickland, a four-time All-PBC selection and owner of several school and conference records joined Pacer great Jami Cornwell as the only two softball players to have their jerseys retired.

The Pacers will next travel to Alabama for a PBC road tilt against the Falcons of the University of Montevallo in Montevallo, Ala. on Thursday, Feb. 10. The women will get things started at 5:30 p.m. with the men's game to follow shortly after the conclusion of that game at approximately 7:30 p.m.