AUGUSTA, Ga. – The Benedict College men's basketball team remained unbeaten with a 72-64 victory over the Augusta Jaguars on Tuesday night in a non-conference contest.
The Tigers improve to 4-0 on the season after knocking off Augusta, the nation's preseason 10
th-ranked team. The Jaguars fall to 2-2 on the season.
The Tigers placed four players in double figures, led by
Brandon Smith with 19 points.
Asanti Price and
Marshaun West added 15 points each.
Malachi McCoy chipped in 12 points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
The Tigers shot 49.1 percent from the floor, while holding the Jaguars to 35.1 percent shooting.
Augusta had an 11-7 lead early in the first half before the Tigers scored the next 12 points to take the lead and never looked back. Benedict pushed the lead to 20 points, 43-23, at the half, outscoring Augusta 17-4 to close out the first half.
The Jaguars trimmed the lead in the second half to just two points, 48-46, with 13:01 left in the game. West hit a 3-pointer to ignite an 11-0 run by the Tigers. West followed with a fast-break layup,
Malachi McCoy added a layup,
Brandon Smith had a layup, and McCoy closed out the run with a dunk for a 59-46 lead with 9:03 remaining.
The Tigers increased the lead to 15 points, 68-53, on a dunk by McCoy with 4:47 remaining, and they held on for the win.
Benedict is back in action on Saturday, hosting the Lane Dragons at 7:30 p.m. in their SIAC opener.
