Box Score AIKEN, S.C. – The nationally 23rd-ranked University of South Carolina Aiken men's basketball team avenged an earlier Peach Belt Conference loss to Lander with a 92-84 home win over the Bearcats on Saturday evening at the Convocation Center.
The contest was part of USC Aiken's Homecoming celebration.
USC Aiken (18-6, 12-4 PBC) with the win stays in first place in the Peach Belt Conference East Division standings. The Pacers also are in sole possession now of the overall conference lead with every other team in the league having at least five losses.
In a total team effort on Saturday, USC Aiken finished its win over Lander with 27 assists as a squad. Eight Pacers had at least one assist in the contest.
Re'mon Nelson (Columbus, Ohio/Canal Winchester HS) dished out a career-high 12 assists in the game. The 12 assists were just one short of the school record. Nelson just missed on a double-double, as he also scored nine points.
Four Pacers recorded double figure scoring outputs with Jesse Seilern (Innsbruck, Austria/Kapfenberg HS) leading the way with 16 points. He was 4-for-6 from beyond the arc in the game.
Ronald Zimmerman (Columbia, S.C./Spring Valley HS) scored the first nine points of the game for USC Aiken en route to 14 points. He was also 4-for-6 from beyond the arc in the game.
Joel Gierbolini (Carolina, Puerto Rico/Long Island) knocked down six of his eight shots in the game to finish with 13 points and five rebounds.
Terrance Dent (Laramie, Wy./Laramie CC) nailed three 3-pointers to finish with 11 points.
USC Aiken as a team drained 11 3-pointers in the game.
The Pacers ended their win shooting 58.6 percent (34-for-58) as a team. USC Aiken connected upon 66.7 percent (18-for-27) of its shots in the first stanza.
Lander shot 61.5 percent (32-for-52) as a team in the game. They were led by Dwight Tolbert's 27 points in the contest.
USC Aiken hit upon 93 percent of their shot attempts through the first 10 minutes of the game.
The Pacers would eventually enter intermission with a 48-39 lead.
USC Aiken would go ahead by as many as 18 in the second half before emerging with the eight-point league victory.
USC Aiken will next welcome Francis Marion to the Convocation Center for a 7:30 p.m. game on Wednesday, Feb. 22. USC Aiken's final home game of the year will serve as Senior Day for the Pacers.
