AIKEN, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken men's basketball team dropped a heartbreaking 62-59 contest to Georgia College Tuesday evening.

The Pacers are now 4-3 overall and 1-2 in league play.

Head coach Mark Vanderslice's team fell behind 10-0 before Henry Bolton III buried a three-ball, cutting it to a seven-point contest. However, the Bobcats quickly pushed the margin back to double figures two possessions later.

Trailing 21-4, USC Aiken cut the deficit to 13 on multiple occasions, including on a thunderous dunk by Robert Hill at the 9:44 mark, making it 25-12. Moments later, Nenad Milenkovic's three-point shot made it 30-18, but that was as close as the home squad could get for the half. The visitors reeled off the last four points of the frame for a 39-20 halftime edge.

After an inspired halftime speech, the defense stepped up, holding the visitors to 29.6 percent shooting while the home squad buried 14-of-28 attempts in the final 20 minutes of action.

Trailing 43-22, USC Aiken embarked on a 26-7 spurt, closing within two at the 7:24 mark on a free throw from Doniel Dean.

The Pacers did not let the Bobcats' lead get too large the rest of the way, keeping it at six points at the most. Down 60-54 with 27 seconds to play, Milenkovic buried two of three attempts.

After a basket by the visitors, Bolton III nailed a three-ball with 15 seconds to play. Georgia College missed a pair of free throws, but USC Aiken's last-second attempt was unable to find the bottom of the net.

Bolton III led the way with 18 points while Dean contributed 13. Faison Brock and Hill each collected a team-high seven rebounds.

For the game, USC Aiken hit 21-of-58 (36.2 percent) from the floor, including eight-of-26 from downtown (30.8 percent). Vanderslice's team had 20 points off the bench compared to 14 for the Bobcats.

The Pacers return to action Dec. 30 when they travel to Columbus State at 3:30 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at PacerSports.com.