COLUMBIA, S.C. – Miles College's Josh Samuels scored 18 of his game-high 27 points in the second half to lead the Golden Bears to a 76-70 victory over the Benedict College Tigers on Monday night in the Benjamin E. Mays HRC Arena.

The Tigers lost their fourth straight game and fell to 8-6 overall and 3-2 in the SIAC. Benedict was playing without leading rebounder Lafonzo Smith for the third straight game as well as leading scorer Jordan Smith. Miles improved to 7-7 overall and 5-0 in the SIAC.

Quayshun Hawkins led the Tigers with 29 points. Christopher Spencer added 14 points and had a team-high seven rebounds.

Maiscei Grier had 14 points for the Golden Bears, while Shaquille Cook had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Both teams were identical from the floor, making 26 of 57 shots. Benedict had one more 3-pointer, making 10, while the Golden Bears had nine. But the big difference was at the free-throw line, where Benedict made just eight of 20 attempts, while Miles was 15-of-23.

Benedict had a 10-point lead, 20-10, with 12:28 left in the first half after a 3-pointer by Deshawn Graham, playing in his first game for the Tigers. Miles scored the next 11 points, and the game stayed close the rest of the way. A 3-pointer by Grier closed out the first half, cutting Benedict's lead to 35-30 at the break.

The Golden Bears scored seven straight points early in the second half to take a 37-36 lead. A jumper by Samuels gave Miles its largest lead of the game, 64-57, with 5:06 to play. A 3-pointer by Hawkins, a layup by Justin Metze and a free-throw by Spencer cut the lead to 66-65 with 2:32 left. After Samuels made three free-throws, Hawkins scored on a layup to make it 69-67 with 1:37 on the clock. Cook scored again for the Bears and Graham made one free throw to make it 71-68 with 17 seconds left and that was as close as the Tigers would get. Miles made three free-throws for a 74-68 lead. Spencer scored for the Tigers and Samuels made a layup at the buzzer for the Bears for the final score.

Benedict hits the road for a pair of games at Stillman on Thursday and LeMoyne-Owen on Saturday, before returning home to face Spring Hill on Thursday, Jan. 14.