COLUMBIA, S.C. – The 13th-ranked Benedict College men's basketball had some trouble trying to figure out the winless Lane College Dragons, but eventually found the answer in center Marcus Goode and pulled away for a 70-55 victory Monday night in the Benjamin E. Mays HRC Arena.

The Tigers improve to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the SIAC. Lane dropped to 0-4 overall and 0-2 in the SIAC.

The Dragons were focused on preventing Goode, fresh off back-to-back 30-point games, from getting the ball for much of the contest. But after the Dragons cut the lead to 59-54 with 4:15 left in the game after a jumper by Nick Jones, the Tigers forced the ball into their All-American center and he responded by scoring Benedict's next five points on a free throw, a layup and offensive put-back.

Lane scored a free throw with 2:05 left to make it 64-55, but did not score again.

Goode finished with a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds.

With the Dragons trying to contain Goode, that opened up the perimeter for the Tigers. A second-half adjustment by Watson opened things up for Benedict's outside shooters. Antrjuan Albright finished with 18 points, connecting on five 3-pointers. Rickie Jackson added 16 points, making three 3-pointers.

“In the first half, we were shooting horrible from the 3-point line,” Watson said. “In the second half, we put our best shooters on the same side with Marcus, and it was just hard for them (Lane) at that point.  Albright hit a couple in a row, and that forced them to play those outside guys and then Marcus just kind of took over.”

The Tigers had a 29-22 lead at the half, but a pair of 3-pointers by Albright and another by Jackson gave Benedict a 43-30 lead five minutes into the second half.

The Dragons cut it to 43-38 before Albright hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Tigers an 11-point cushion.

Nick Jones and Tony Payne led Lane with 11 points each, while Anthony Collier added 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Benedict has one more game in the first semester, traveling to face USC Aiken on Saturday in a non-conference game in their final game before the semester break. After Saturday's game, the Tigers return to action on January 2 on the road against Clark Atlanta.

“Our goals this semester were to be undefeated at home and undefeated in the conference. We accomplished those goals,” Watson said. Now we want to try to get a good road win against a good USC Aiken team before the break.”

The men's team received their championship rings for winning the 2011-12 SIAC regular season championship on Monday.

Boxscore