COLUMBIA, S.C. – Palm Beach Atlantic's Derick Yepes hit five 3-pointers and scored 18 points to help lead the Sailfish to a 70-65 victory over Benedict College in the Tigers' season opener on Sunday afternoon in the Benjamin E. Mays HRC Arena.

The bigger Sailfish team pulled down 20 offensive rebounds and outrebounded the Tigers 45-32. Palm Beach Atlantic's 6-foot-10 center Clark Major had a game-high 10 rebounds.

"We played well, and the guys played hard. They were just a little bit better early in the season than us," Benedict head coach Fred Watson said. "They were a little too big. We couldn't keep them off the boards. We played really well defensively, surprisingly well, we executed well offensively, but the 20 offensive rebounds, we just couldn't keep them off the boards."

Benedict was led by freshman Roberto Mantovani, who had 15 points as well as seven rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots. Andrew Crawford had 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while Quiron Cooke chipped in with 12 points.

After a close, back-and-forth game, the Sailfish pulled away with seven straight points late in the second half.

A 3-pointer by Justin Peeples gave the Tigers a 57-54 lead with 6:16 left to play. The Sailfish responded with a 3-pointer by Yepes to tie the game. Clark scored a layup to give the Sailfish a 59-57 lead and Yepes followed with another 3-pointer. Two free throws by Evin Graham finished off the run and gave the Sailfish a 64-57 lead with 3:12 to play.

The Tigers rallied back with three free throws and a layup by Brennan Reynard to cut the lead to 64-62 with 1:52 on the clock, but the Sailfish got a big 3-pointer by Clayton Williams with 1:34 left to push the lead back to five points, 67-62 and the Tigers could not make up the difference.

The Tigers return to action next weekend, where they will travel to Huntsville, Al., to take on the University of Alabama-Huntsville Chargers on Saturday at 3 p.m. and Union College on Sunday at 3 p.m.