COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Benedict College Tigers held off a late rally by Albany State University to take an 80-78 victory in a SIAC men's basketball contest on Saturday afternoon in the Benjamin E. Mays HRC Arena.

A pair of free throws by Jelani Watson-Gayle gave the Tigers an 80-72 lead with 10 seconds left in the contest. The Golden Rams sank a pair of 3-pointers in the final three seconds to trim the final score.

Benedict improves to 16-5 overall and 9-4 in the SIAC. Albany State drops to 2-18 overall and 2-10 in the SIAC.

Brandon Morris led the Tigers with 17 points and a game-high seven rebounds. Dimitri Cook added 13 points, while Cairo Brown and Rodney Prichard chipped in 12 points each. Jared Harrington led the Golden Rams with a game-high 21 points.

Albany State scored the first five points of the contest, and Benedict took its first lead of the game, 11-10, on a Morris layup with 15:06 on the clock. A 3-pointer by Prichard with 7:31 left in the first half gave the Tigers a 24-22 lead and Benedict never trailed again. The Tigers had a 40-32 lead at the half.

Benedict built as much as a 12-point lead on several occasions in the second half, the final time on a layup by Brown with 8:05 left to play.

Benedict shot 60.4 percent (29-of-48), their third time this season shooting better than 60 percent. The Tigers held Albany State to 49.2 percent (29-of-59).

Benedict is back in action on Monday night, hosting Fort Valley State at 7:30 p.m.