AIKEN, S.C. – Senior Arbry Butler nearly posted a triple-double against Clayton State, but it was not enough in the 83-78 loss Wednesday evening.

The Pacers are now 6-16 overall and 4-11 against league foes. The Lakers improve to 14-8 overall and 9-6 against conference competition.

Butler fell a block shy of a triple-double. However, he tallied a double-double and in doing so, registered a career-high 31 points. Butler also grabbed 11 rebounds to go along with his nine blocks in 37 minutes of action. He was sensational from the floor, canning 12-of-15 shots. From the charity stripe, Butler nailed seven-of-10 attempts.

Jevon Patton poured in 17 points to go along with sharing game-high honors with four assists. Tavares Sledge accounted for 11 points, eight boards and four assists before fouling out.

Keith Belfield added seven points while Gavin Stephenson totaled five points on a perfect two-for-two from the floor. Kyle Buffkin posted four points, four rebounds and two blocks while Hendrix Emu had three points, four boards and a block.

After a back-and-forth affair in the early going, Butler buried back-to-back jumpers for a 15-11 lead at the 13:00 minute mark. Patton's long three-pointer extended the margin to seven, 18-11.

Head coach Mark Vanderslice's team pushed the margin to nine on Buffkin's lay-up off a pass from Sledge with 10:02 to play in the half. The game stayed around a seven-to-nine point advantage for USC Aiken until Belfield's lay-up gave the home squad its largest lead of the contest, 37-27, with 3:28 to go in the half. The Pacers managed to maintain a 41-33 lead at the break.

After intermission, the Lakers rattled off the first five points of the final stanza, pulling within three at 41-38. USC Aiken made it a five-point game after Patton's lob to Butler for the thunderous dunk and three-point play.

Clayton State took the lead at 50-49 with 15:53 to go, but from that point forward it was a back-and-forth contest. Butler's lay-up gave the Pacers a 51-50 lead. The teams traded leads, but after Patton tied the game at 61-61, the Lakers went on a 6-0 run.

USC Aiken would pull within one with 1:43 to go, but the team was unable to pull even the rest of the way. 

For the game, USC Aiken buried 29-of-52 shots from the floor (55.8 percent), but made just four-of-15 (26.7 percent) from downtown. The squad got to the charity stripe 22 times, connecting on 16 attempts (72.7 percent).

USC Aiken dominated the paint, outscoring the Lakers 48-26, but the visitors managed to outscore the home team 20-2 off turnovers.

The Pacers return to action Saturday when they play at Augusta starting at 3:30 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at PacerSports.com.