AIKEN, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken men's basketball team posted an 83-66 victory over Tusculum Friday evening in the season opener for both teams.

Head coach Mark Vanderslice's team jumped out to a 14-0 edge just 2:58 into the contest and never looked back. Doniel Dean and Faison Brock opened with back-to-back three-pointers before Ty'lik Evans took a pass from Dean for a lay-up. Brock and Dean hit shots for the 14-0 margin.

USC Aiken extended the lead to 15 on a three-ball by Evans to make it 22-7 and pushed the lead to 18 on a Myles Washington three-point shot before ending the half with a 43-26 advantage.

The Pacers saw their lead dwindle to 11 at 53-42 with 14:17 to play, but Xzavier Barmore and Dean answered with a pair of buckets, extending the margin to 15. With just over 10 minutes to play, Dean's three-ball made it 65-45.

Evans led the way with a game-high 23 points on eight-of-16 shooting from the floor. He buried six-of-11 from downtown in the victory.

Brock added 18 points and six rebounds while Dean accounted for 16 points and a game-best eight assists. Barmore contributed 10 markers and five assists.

Washington and Bell chipped in five and four points, respectively.

For the game, USC Aiken canned 28-of-64 from the floor(43.8 percent), including 11-of-26 (42.3 percent) from distance.

Vanderslice's team held a 22-5 advantage in points off turnovers and a 19-9 edge in second-chance points.

The Pacers return to action tomorrow when they host Lincoln Memorial at 3:30 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at PacerSports.com.