COLUMBIA, S.C. (Men's Basketball)—Paine College and Benedict College traded points throughout the game but in the end it would be the Tigers as the victors, 88-77, on Saturday. The loss is the second in a row for the Lions who were once undefeated in Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.

Paine entered the game after a gut wrenching loss one point loss to Morehouse on Thursday. Benedict came into the contest riding high off a win over

The first half consisted of the Lions and Tigers trading points and tying the game three times before Benedict's Deonte Johnson made a layup at the 4: 14 to make the score, 29-27. The Tigers scored four more points before the Arnold Okechukwu answered back for the Lions with a jumper at the 3:01, 33-29. Paine fell victim to the assault by Benedict and went into the locker room at halftime down by seven points, 42-35.

Denzel Dillingham tried to get the Lions offense started by making a layup with 19:10 left in the second half to make the score, 44-37. The Tigers starting their scoring barrage again and Paine could not stop it. With 3:48 left in the second half, Benedict had extended the point deficit to 20, 80-60. Alfonso Davis score the Lion's last points of the game with :36 left in game as he went to the free throw line to make the score, 88-77.

Dillingham was the leading scorer for Paine with 19 points and Davis followed him with 17 points. Nathan Powell and Takija Knight tied for the team high rebounds for the game with five a piece. Powell also led the Lions in assists with four and in steals with two. Davis accounted for Paine's lone block of the game.

As a team, the Lions finished the night with 28 rebounds, eight assists, one block, and eight steals. Paine ended the game, 45.2 percent from the field, 35.7 percent from the arc, and 78.3 percent from the free throw line.
The Tigers were led by Brennan Reynard with 19 points, 10 assists and five steals. Deonte Johnson followed him with a double-double of 17 points and 15 rebounds. Lafonzo Smith and Roberto Mantovani each finished the game with two blocks.

Collectively, Benedict finished the night with 42 rebounds, 11 assists, seven steals, and five blocks. The team was 52.5 percent from the field, 35.7 percent from the arc, and 73.1 percent from the free throw line.

The Tigers bench outscored Paine's bench, 50-36. Benedict also outscored the Lions in the paint, 32-24.

With the loss, Paine drops to 14-5 overall and 10-2 in conference play. The Tigers record changes to 11-7 overall and 9-3 in league play.

The Lions return to action in an early week exhibition tilt against Kennesaw State on Monday at 7:00 p.m. The game will be featured on ESPN2.

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