AIKEN, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken men's basketball team dropped an 85-76 decision against Lander Wednesday evening in a Peach Belt Conference contest.
 
The Pacers are now 13-5 overall, including a 7-4 mark against conference foes. The Bearcats improve to 6-12 overall and 3-6 in league games.

Henry Bolton III paced everyone with a career-high 29 points. He drained 11-of-17 from the floor, including six-of-eight from downtown in 27 minutes of work. Christian Nobles accounted for 15 points on six-of-11 shooting while dishing out four assists. Mark Matthews canned 10 points to go along with a team-best eight boards while Nenad Milenkovic had nine points.

Jalin Barnes contributed seven points and seven rebounds and Faison Brock snagged five boards.
 
USC Aiken trailed 6-0, but got back into the contest and took the lead on a three-ball from Bolton III. Thomas' team increased its margin to five on a three-point shot by Milenkovic, making it 20-15 at the 11:47 to play.
 
Lander went up by eight, 30-22, but Barnes hit a pair of free throws. Then, with 6:15 on the clock, Bolton III found the bottom of the net on another shot from distance. His lay-up pulled the home team within one. However, the Bearcats went up by six with 4:47 to go.
 
Trailing 40-34, Matthews connected on a jumper in the paint. After a turnover, Nobles took a pass from Matthews and drained a shot from behind the three-point stripe. A three-pointer by Barnes completed an 8-0 run, giving the Pacers a 42-40 lead with 1:05 to play.
 
Lander knotted the contest with 43 ticks remaining in the period, but a three-ball from Bolton III with two seconds to play gave the Pacers a 45-42 lead at the break. Bolton III scored 21 points in the first 20 minutes of action as he buried eight-of-nine attempts from the floor, including nailing all five three-point attempts.

The second half was a back-and-forth affair as neither team could muster more than a three-point edge through the first 12:52 of the half.

USC Aiken held a 64-62 lead on a lay-up by Robert Hill with 9:17 to play, but the visitors embarked on a 10-0 run to take an eight-point lead. Vanderslice's team managed to cut the deficit to five with 1:17 to play, but could get no closer.

For the game, USC Aiken had 14 second-chance points compared to 12 by the visitors. Vanderslice's team outscored the Bearcats 28-26 in the paint. USC Aiken connected on 28-of-70 from the floor (40 percent), including 12-of-30 from downtown (40 percent). The squad was perfect from the charity stripe, canning all eight attempts.
 
The Pacers return to action Saturday when they play at Flagler. Tip-off is slated for 3:30 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at PacerSports.com.