Box Score COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Benedict College Tigers handed Morehouse College its first conference loss with a 77-70 men's basketball victory on Thursday night in the Benjamin E. Mays HRC Arena.

The win tightens the race in the SIAC East Division, as Morehouse drops to 13-6 overall and 13-1 in the SIAC. Benedict improves to 17-6 overall and 13-2 in the SIAC. Benedict avenged a 68-65 loss at Morehouse in their first meeting on January 26.

Xavier Collier scored a season-high 29 points to lead the Tigers, while Marcus Goode had 18 points, 12 rebounds and eight blocked shots.

The Tigers had a 15-point lead with 1:37 left to play, then had to hold off a furious last-minute rally by the Maroon Tigers. Morehouse's Shawn Allen had a layup, Darrius Williams had a 3-point play, then Austin Anderson hit a 3-pointer with 53 seconds left to make it 74-67. Brennan Reynard hit one free throw for Benedict, but Morehouse responded with another 3-pointer by Anderson to make it 75-70 with 38 seconds left. Morehouse had a couple of more chances, including a 3-point attempt by Anderson, but the Tigers recovered the ball in a scramble and Collier hit a free throw for the final score.

Shawn Allen led Morehouse with 24 points, while Williams had 21.

After holding a five-point lead at the half, 42-37, Benedict outscored the Maroon Tigers 12-3 to open the second half to take a 54-40 lead. Morehouse cut the lead to 54-45, but Collier hit a 3-pointer with 11:04 to play and the Tigers held a double-digit lead until Anderson's 3-pointer with 53 seconds left.

Benedict held the edge in rebounding, 33-22. The Tigers shot a blistering 81.8 percent in the first half, hitting 18 of their 22 shot attempts, but cooled off in the second half and finished the game shooting 57.4 percent. Morehouse shot 46.3 percent for the game.

Benedict is home again on Saturday to face Clark Atlanta.