MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. – The University of South Carolina Aiken men's basketball team held off a strong second half charge from Georgia College to acquire a 69-64 win over the Bobcats in Peach Belt Conference men's basketball action on Saturday afternoon at the Centennial Center.

USC Aiken (11-2, 5-0 PBC) has now won 10 of its last 11 games.

The Pacers opened the game by rushing out to a 15-0 lead. Ronald Zimmerman (Columbia, S.C./Spring Valley) punctuated USC Aiken's 15-0 spurt to start the game by knocking down a 3-pointer with 14:13 left in the first stanza.

USC Aiken would still lead by 12 with three and a half minutes remaining in the first half, but Georgia College (8-6, 1-4 PBC) would go on a 5-0 run over the next couple of minutes to cut the Pacer lead to just seven at 35-28.

The Pacers would then close the first half with Joel Gierbolini (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Long Island) converting a Jesse Seilern (Innsbruck, Austria/Kapfenberg) steal into a dunk at the final buzzer. The dunk garnered USC Aiken a 37-28 lead at intermission.

USC Aiken finished the first half shooting 52.2 percent (12-of-23) as a team. The Pacers knocked down five of their 12 field goals in the first half from beyond the arc. USC Aiken was 5-for-7 (71.4 percent) from beyond the arc in the first half.

Georgia College began the second half by cutting USC Aiken's lead to just six at 40-34 with 17:57 remaining in the game.

USC Aiken then proceeded to go on a 15-5 run over the next five and a half minutes to thwart the Bobcat advances and extend its lead to 16 at 55-39 with 12:24 left in the second half.

The 16-point Pacer advantage would not last though. A 16-0 Georgia College run helped the Bobcats pull even with the Pacers at 55-all with 4:48 left in the game.

USC Aiken would snap Georgia College's run on its next offensive possession with Jeremiah Pojah (Houston, Texas/East Texas Baptist) hitting a jump shot with 4:33 remaining. Sterling Council (Camden, S.C./Camden) would then hit a jump shot of his own a few seconds later to put the Pacers up four at 59-55.

The Pacer advantage would be just one at 62-61 after a Georgia College 3-pointer with exactly one-minute left in the game. Seilern then knocked down three straight free throws to give the Pacers a 65-61 lead with 42 seconds left in the game.

A three-point play by Georgia College's Scott Ferguson on the Bobcats' next offensive possession placed USC Aiken ahead just one at 65-64 with just 30 seconds on the game clock.

USC Aiken was able to get the basketball into the more than capable hands of Council on its next possession. Currently in the top five in the country in free throw shooting percentage, Council calmly hit the two ensuing free throws to garner USC Aiken a three-point lead at 67-64 with 18 seconds to go in the contest.

Ryan Aquino's long-range 3-point attempt then fell well short on Georgia College's next possession and Council once again was fouled after plucking the defensive rebound. He hit his two free throws to preserve a five-point win for the Pacers.

USC Aiken concluded its win over Georgia College shooting 43.1 percent (22-for-51) as a team. Georgia College hit upon 41.3 percent (19-for-46) of its shots as a team in its loss.

The Pacers connected upon 47.1 percent (8-for-17) of its 3-point attempts as a team in the game. USC Aiken hit 17 of its 22 (77.3 percent) free throw attempts in the game.

Pojah led all Pacers in the game with 13 points and nine rebounds. He also had two steals and an assist.

USC Aiken's Re'mon Nelson (Columbus, Ohio/Canal Winchester) finished the win over Georgia College with 12 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Both Zimmerman and Council ended their nights with 10 points. Council was a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe in the game.

Aquino led Georgia College in its loss to USC Aiken with 21 points. He was one of three Bobcats in double figures.

USC Aiken will next play host to rival Augusta State at the Convocation Center on Monday, Jan. 16. The Peach Belt Conference men's and women's basketball doubleheader will begin at 5:30 p.m. with the No. 13 Pacer women tangling with the Augusta State women.

The Pacer men will take on the Jaguar men immediately following the women's game at approximately 7:30 p.m.

The USC Aiken-Augusta State doubleheader is being sponsored by Aiken Staffing Associates, Papa John's and Gordon Chevrolet.

During halftime of the men's game, the USC Aiken athletic department will honor its spring sports student-athletes.

The Peach Belt Conference and SunTrust Banks, Inc. will also honor former Pacer men's soccer player Kofi Trim for obtaining the PBC-SunTrust Minority Postgraduate scholarship during the men's halftime break.

USC Aiken is hoping to pack the Convocation Center for the doubleheader so Pacer fans are encouraged to come early to get the best seats.