AIKEN, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken men's basketball team moved to 2-0 in Peach Belt Conference play by picking up an 85-67 victory over Francis Marion. 

The Pacers' offensive attack was led by reigning PBC Player of the Week Ronald Zimmerman and DeVontae Wright who each tallied 22 points in the game. Zimmerman made four three-pointers and went 10-of-12 from the foul line and Wright added five assists and two steals on seven-of-12 shooting from the floor, including three three-pointers.

Paul Larsen finished the game with a double-double, scoring 13 points and grabbing 11 boards. Shane Porchea also chipped in with 10 points, five assists and two steals. 

In total, four Pacers finished the game with double-digit scoring totals. Santoine Butler added nine points and Rick Alderman chipped in with seven.

USC Aiken moved to 9-2 on the season overall while Francis Marion dropped to 3-3 overall, 0-2 in conference play. 

The Pacers opened the game with a pair of three-pointers by Zimmerman, who would score the first nine Pacer points going three-for-three from behind the arc to start the game. USC Aiken led, 9-7, in the first four minutes of the game. 

The game was a back-and-forth affair for the next six minutes until the Pacers began to take control as another Zimmerman three-pointer started a 10-3 run to put USC Aiken up, 32-22, at the 7:20 mark in the first half. 

Francis Marion got the lead down to four points with 3:40 left before the half on a pair of free throws, but USC Aiken stretched it back to 10 points with just under two minutes remaining at 41-31 on a steal and layup by Wright.

The Pacers took a 42-36 lead into the half.

Two Pacers finished the first half in double figures, led by Zimmerman with 14 points on four-of-five shooting from behind the arc and two-for-two from the charity stripe. Wright scored 11 points and dished out three assists in the first half.The first half featured eight lead changes and three ties in the tight first half.

Coach Vince Alexander's team opened the second half with a flurry of action, scoring the first seven points of the half on a dunk and a foul shot by Larsen and a dunk and layup by Butler to stretch the lead to 13 points at, 49-36.

At about the 14:40 mark of the second half Brown had a block which led to a Pacer fast break. Brown finished what he started, converting the break with an alley-oop dunk from Zimmerman.  

The play put the Pacers up by 11 points, 57-46.The Patriots would cut back into the lead, twice getting as close as eight points with about 10 minutes left to play, but the Pacers had an answer on each occasion with layups by Larsen and Porchea.

USC Aiken led by double-digits for the remainder of the game, stretching the lead to as many as 20 points on a pair of Zimmerman free throws with 4:13 left in the game before claiming the victory, 85-67.

The Pacers finished the game shooting 53.1 percent (26-of-49) from the field including 40 percent (eight-of-20) from three-point land.

The Pacers were 25-of-36 (69.4 percent) from the charity stripe in the game.Francis Marion shot 33.9 percent (20-of-59) in the game, shooting 28 percent (seven-of-25) from deep.

The Patriots were 20-of-27 (74.1 percent) from the foul line in the game.The game saw 54 total fouls called, 30 on the Patriots and 24 on the Pacers.

The Pacers return to action Saturday at King (Tenn.). Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m.