AIKEN, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken men's basketball team lost an 82-68 contest to Lander Saturday afternoon. 

The Pacers are now 15-7 overall, including 8-4 in league play.

Head coach Mark Vanderslice's team was led by Jalen McCoy's 20 points on eight-of-15 shooting from the floor. He also swatted a pair of shots.

Tyler Johnson chipped in 15 points while Tehree Horn notched 14. Jameel Rideout accounted for nine points and three rebounds while Samba Ndiaye had six points and a team-best seven boards.

USC Aiken tied the game at 11-11 but Lander hit a lay-up. At the 11:51 mark, Johnson nailed a three-ball and converted a lay-up seconds later. Up by four, Rideout buried a three-point shot for a 24-17 advantage off an assist from Ndiaye. Rideout's jumper extended the margin to nine with 6:00 to play in the half.

The Bearcats held a 32-29 edge before McCoy hit a jumper in the lane. Down by three, Horn found Ndiaye for an emphatic dunk with less than a minute to go, sending the game into the second half with USC Aiken trailing 34-33.

Johnson's three-point bucket at the 17:02 mark gave the home team a 42-37 lead. Moments later, a teal and dunk from Johnson put the Pacers in front 46-40. Lander regained the lead at the 13:51 mark but McCoy's lay-up tied it at 50-50 just 26 seconds later. However, the visitors hit a three-point shot at 11:41 and never trailed the rest of the way.

For the game, USC Aiken hit 25-of-60 from the floor (41.7 percent), including seven-of-20 from the three-point stripe (35.0 percent). The team canned 11-of-14 from the charity stripe (78.6 percent).

USC Aiken had 28 points off the bench and scored 30 points in the paint. The squad also pulled down 12 offensive rebounds, resulting in 14 second-chance points.

The Pacers return to action Wednesday at Georgia College & State at 7:30 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at PacerSports.com.