CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Johnson C. Smith hit four free throws in the final 36 seconds to take an 81-78 victory over the Benedict College men's basketball team on Saturday night in the Johnson C. Smith Tip-Off Classic.

The Tigers rallied from a 21-point second-half deficit to take a 78-77 lead on a 3-pointer by Quayshun Hawkins with 55 seconds left in the game. The Golden Bulls' Stedmon Lemon sank two free throws after being fouled when he grabbed an offensive rebound to give JCSU a 79-78 lead. Benedict missed two 3-pointers on their end of the court, and Alandre Davis got the rebound after the second miss and sank two free throws with 10 seconds. Benedict missed a game-tying 3-pointer right before the buzzer.

Benedict falls to 3-1 on the season with its first loss. Johnson C. Smith improved to 4-1.

Hawkins led the Tigers with 32 points, hitting eight 3-pointers. Brennan Reynard added 16 points with six assists and six rebounds. Jordan Smith added 12 points.

Benedict attempted 41 3-pointers in the game, sinking 11 for a 26.8 shooting percentage from beyond the arc. Benedict shot 43.7 percent overall.

Johnson C. Smith had a big advantage at the free-throw line, connecting on 21-of-27 attempts. Benedict took just six free throws, making five.

The Golden Bulls jumped out to a 12-4 early lead. The Tigers eventually tied the game at 23 on a 3-pointer by Hawkins, then tied the game again at 26 on a 3-pointer. A dunk by Christopher Spencer gave Benedict a 30-28 lead. The Golden Bulls went on an 8-0 run late in the first half and took a 42-35 lead at the break.

The Golden Bulls scored the first 10 points of the second half for a 52-35 lead, and built the lead to 21 points, 58-37, on a layup by Lemon with 16:08 left in the game. The Tigers went on a 12-0 run, fueled by Hawkins and Jordan Smith, to cut the lead to 62-57 with 10:36 left in the game.

Johnson C. Smith had a 73-69 lead with 3:24 left to play when Reynard had back-to-back steals, leading to a jumper by Hawkins and a layup by Reynard, giving Benedict its first lead in the second half, 75-73 with 1:45 left to play.

After four free throws by the Golden Bulls, Hawkins hit a 3-pointer to give the Tigers the lead back at 78-77 with 55 seconds left. Johnson C. Smith then pulled ahead with the four free throws to close out the game.

Benedict is back in action on Tuesday with an exhibition game against Life University in the Benjamin E. Mays HRC Arena at 7 p.m.