AUGUSTA, Ga. – The No. 6 University of South Carolina Aiken men's basketball team knocked off Augusta 79-76 Wednesday evening.

The Pacers are now 18-1 overall and 12-1 in league play while the Jaguars fall to 13-5 overall and 9-3 against conference competition.

Head coach Mark Vanderslice's team was led by Ty'lik Evans. He scored 24 points, had a game-best eight rebounds and a game-high five steals. Xzavier Barmore and Doniel Dean accounted for 17 points apiece while Faison Brock had nine points and eight boards.

In a back-and-forth affair, the game was tied for the fourth time at 10-10 after a lay-up by Robert Hill. Trailing 20-18, Brock buried a three-ball off a pass from Evans. The teams were deadlocked at 28-28 before USC Aiken embarked on a 6-0 spurt. Brock hit a free throw before Evans nailed a three-ball. Barmore stole the ball and hit Evans on the break to make it 34-28.

Vanderslice's team extended the margin to eight after a steal and a pull-up three-pointer by Evans at the 4:09 mark. However, the Jaguars managed to take a 42-40 lead into halftime.

USC Aiken trailed until Evans registered a steal and lay-up, knotting the score at 57-57 with 11:52 to play in the game. Neither team gained much of an advantage the rest of the way – as the lead never swelled past five points for either squad.

The Pacers led 67-62, but the Jaguars rattled off 12 of the next 14 points for a 74-69 lead. Evans answered the call with a three-ball. On the next possession, he got the ball from 22 feet out and buried a three-pointer despite being fouled on the play. Evans calmly canned the foul shot for a 76-74 margin.

Tied at 76-76, Evans sliced through the defense for a lay-up with 18 seconds to go. Near half-court, Barmore swiped the ball from AU and was fouled going toward the basket. He made the first free throw, but missed the second one.

After the Jaguars grabbed the rebound, they called time-out. However, a deflection led to Barmore stealing the pass to secure the win for USC Aiken as time expired.

For the game, USC Aiken hit 28-of-60 from the floor (46.7 percent), including nine-of-26 from downtown (34.6 percent). The squad hit 14-of-19 from the charity stripe (73.7 percent). 

Vanderslice's team held a 28-26 edge in the paint, outscored the Jaguars 23-13 off turnovers, maintained a 13-4 edge on fast break points and the bench outscored the home bench 22-11.

The contest was tied 14 times and the lead changed 14 times.

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