ATLANTA, Ga. – Morehouse College jumped out to a 22-0 lead and held off a Benedict College second-half rally to defeat the Tigers 34-13 on Saturday in a SIAC football matchup.

Morehouse improves to 3-5 overall and 1-3 in the SIAC. Benedict falls to 0-7 overall and 0-4 in the SIAC.

"We came out flat," said Benedict head coach Mike White. "I thought we had nothing. I know offensively sometimes we start slow, but I thought defensively we came out flat, also."

The Tigers couldn't get much going in the first half. They had one drive of seven plays for 35 yards that ended on a missed 45-yard field goal attempt. Another drive lasted six plays and went 37 yards before ending in a punt. The other five offensive series in the first half failed to pick up a first down and garnered a combined minus six yards.

The Maroon Tigers struck first in the first quarter, marching 80 yards on 11 plays. Quarterback Michael Sims threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Albert Connel. The key play in the drive was a three-yard quarterback keeper by Sims on fourth-and-two from the Benedict 40-yard line. Sims completed another pass on the two-point conversion to give the Maroon Tigers an early 8-0 lead.

Midway through the second quarter, Morehouse's Frank Bailey broke free for a 69-yard run before being brought down at the 1-yard line. Bailey finished the job on the next play, plowing into the end zone to give Morehouse a 14-0 lead.

Just before the half, Sims engineered another scoring drive for the Maroon Tigers, completing passes of 14, 32 and finally a 20-yard strike to Trevor Gichaba for the score. Santo Dunn rushed for the two-point conversion to make it 22-0.

Benedict took the second-half kickoff and had their best sustained drive of the game, marching 68 yards on 11 plays. Raheem Jennings started things off with a 28-yard run. Eric Phoenix completed an 11-yard pass to Raylen Elzy, who shook off a defender and walked into the end zone. The PAT was blocked, making the score 22-6 with 9:26 left in the third quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter, Phoenix found Elijah Watson racing down the home sideline for a 50-yard touchdown strike. Rigoberto Tinoco added the PAT to cut the lead to 22-13 with 9:33 remaining in the game.

Morehouse quickly answered with a touchdown of their own, with Sims throwing an 11-yard touchdown pass to Tremell Gooden to make the score 28-13 with 6:20 remaining.

The Maroon Tigers intercepted Phoenix on the next series, and converted that turnover into a touchdown, as Santo Dunn capped off a 21-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown plunge for the final score of the game with three minutes on the clock.

"We had a chance to make some plays early to keep it close. Then in the second half, I thought we tried to fight and get back in it, but a mistake or two cost us again," White said.

Phoenix completed 17-of-25 passes for a career-high 202 yards and two touchdowns, but was sacked nine times. Jennings finished with 100 yards rushing on nine carries, topping the century mark for the second time this season.

Amari Andrews led the Benedict defense with 12 tackles.

Benedict returns home next Saturday to take on Clark Atlanta at 2 p.m.