ATLANTA – Deonte Johnson had 19 points and Andrew Crawford hit five 3-pointers to help lead the Benedict College Tigers to a 69-60 victory over the Morehouse Maroon Tigers on Monday night in Forbes Arena.

The Tigers won their third straight game and improved to 9-7 overall and 6-3 in the SIAC. Morehouse fell to 9-7 overall and 7-2 in the SIAC.

Morehouse held as much as a 10-point lead in the first half and led 35-33 at the half. The Maroon Tigers still had a 45-41 lead with 14:09 left in the game. A 3-pointer by Justin Peeples cut the lead to one point and Johnson gave the Tigers the lead on a layup with 11:52 left to play. Morehouse tied the game at 48. Johnson hit a free throw to give the Tigers the lead again, and this time they would never relinquish it.

A 3-pointer by Crawford and a layup by Brennan Reynard after a turnover gave Benedict a 59-50 lead with 3:45 left to play. The Maroon Tigers hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the lead to 59-56 with 3:18 on the clock. A layup by Robert Askew made the score 60-58 with 2:29 left to play. Benedict scored the next nine points, with Crawford connecting on a 3-pointer. Benedict built its largest lead of the game, 69-58, with 13 seconds left. Morehouse added a pair of free throws with two seconds left for the final score.

Reynard added 12 points and six assists for Benedict. Lafonzo Smith had a game-high 10 rebounds.

Benedict shot 41.8 percent from the floor, while Morehouse shot 35.6 percent. Benedict was hot from the outside, connecting on 10 of 17 3-pointers (58.8 percent), while Morehouse made just five of 20 (25 percent) from beyond the arc.

Benedict is back in action on Thursday, traveling back to Atlanta to take on Clark Atlanta University.