COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Benedict College Tigers remained undefeated by outscoring Kentucky State 26-7 in the second half and defeated the Thorobreds 40-14 on Saturday night in Charlie W. Johnson Stadium.
 
The Tigers broke away from a 21-14 game at the end of the third quarter by scoring three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to improve to 4-0 on the season and 2-0 in the SIAC. Kentucky State falls to 0-4 on the season and 0-1 in the SIAC.
 
"I'm just proud of our football team and our staff," said Benedict head coach Chennis Berry. "We started off slow. We didn't play our best football in the first half. And the guys really picked it up in the second half. They came out with the right mindset and were able to finish the game. Ultimately, at the end of the day we are 1-0, and that's all we want to be every week."
 
The Tigers were able to break open the game in the second half with some big plays, including a 45-yard pass from Eric Phoenix to Reginald Harden, which set up a 23-yard touchdown run by Noah Zaire Scotland as Benedict broke a 14-14 tie to take the lead for good.
 
Phoenix then completed fourth-quarter touchdown passes of 42 yards to Tayven Grice, 13 yards to Nicholas Sowell and 5 yards to Steven Campbell. Phoenix finished the game with 14 completions on 24 attempts for 188 yards and four touchdowns. John Lampley added two completions on four attempts for 55 yards and a touchdown.
 
"We wanted to stretch the field vertically," Berry said. "We feel we've got some long, athletic receivers who can take the cover off the roof and stretch the field vertically. We wanted to be aggressive and felt if we gave our big, long, tall receivers a chance down the field, that would soften things to open up our running game. We're grateful to have guys who can really, really run and quarterbacks who can put it on them."
 
Scotland finished with 91 yards rushing on 12 carries and one touchdown.
 
The Thorobreds, with their ball-control triple option offense, held on to the ball for a good part of the game. Kentucky State finished with a time of possession of more than 38 minutes, while Benedict managed just 21:48. The Thorobreds finished with 227 yards rushing on 52 attempts.
 
But Benedict dominated the fourth quarter, holding the ball for 8:28 and out-gaining Kentucky State 148 yards to 12 yards in the final quarter.
 
"The defensive staff came in at halftime and made some adjustments," Berry said. "They slowed some things down. Defending that triple option is tough. But our defense staff did an awesome job of slowing it down. The hard thing about the triple option is it's hard to get possessions because they hold the ball so long. We started off a little slow offensively, but we were able to pick it up at the end."
 
Benedict will travel to Fort Valley State, also 4-0, in a battle of SIAC undefeateds next Saturday in Fort Valley, Ga. Kickoff is 2 p.m.