AIKEN, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken men's basketball team lost a 79-76 overtime contest to Georgia Southwestern Saturday afternoon.

The Pacers are now 6-5 on the year and 5-4 in the PBC. The Hurricanes stand at 7-3 overall and 5-3 in league action.

Head coach Mark Vanderslice's team was led by Anyeuri Castillo's 14-point, 11-rebound performance. Tyler Johnson added 14 points and four rebounds.

Donaven Hairston tallied 12 points and six assists. Jalen McCoy totaled 11 points and a pair of blocks while Gus Rowland chipped in 10 markers in the loss.

Tied at 4-4, USC Aiken embarked on an 11-0 run to make it 15-4 at the 14:02 mark. The spurt ended when Hairston found McCoy for a three-point shot. The visitors pulled within four at 20-16, but the Pacers maintained the lead throughout the half. Up by four, Johnson drained a three-ball and Darius Bell collected a rebound and put it up-and-in for a nine-point lead, 25-16.

The Hurricanes pulled within one at 32-31 but Tehree Horn nailed a shot from distance to go up by four. GSW hit two charity tosses with 25 seconds to go in the half to make it a 35-33 contest at the half.

In a back-and-forth second half, the teams were tied at 62-62. GSW hit a three-point shot with 2:41 to go in regulation, but Castillo found Latreavin Black for a bucket. Castillo hit Johnson with a superb pass with 1:20 to play and Johnson found the bottom of the net from distance to go up 67-65. However, the Hurricanes knotted the contest at 67-67 with 1:07 to play. Both squads had chances, but neither could score again in regulation.

Rowland scored four straight points to start overtime. Leading 71-69, Rowland hit two more free throws to push the margin to four, 73-69. GSW rattled off seven consecutive points for a 76-73 lead with 1:35 to play in overtime.

After a rebound by Castillo, he made the outlet pass and hustled down the court. Jakobi Pearson found him for a three-point shot, knotting the game with 51 ticks remaining. The visitors answered with a three-point bucket of their own with 23 seconds to play. USC Aiken had two chances in the waning seconds, but both were unsuccessful.

For the game, the Pacers hit 28-of-67 from the floor (41.8 percent), including 10-of-30 from distance (33.3 percent). The squad made 10-of-16 from the charity stripe (62.5 percent). Vanderslice's team tallied 34 points in the paint and converted 14 rebounds into 11 second-chance points.