Ninth-ranked Pacers outlast Francis Marion 74-63

By Michael G. Hawkins

Senior forward Kevin Clark led three Patriots in double figures with 15 points, but Francis Marion University could not pull off its second straight upset, falling 74-63 to ninth-ranked USC Aiken, Wednesday night (Feb. 4) in Peach Belt Conference men’s basketball action.

The Patriots drop to 12-7 overall and 5-7 in the PBC, while USCA improves to 16-4 overall and stays tied for the conference lead at 11-2.

Clark also hauled down 10 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the year, while blocking three shots. Sophomore forward Simel Boyd scored 12 points off the FMU bench, while senior point Crayton Jones tallied 10 points, six rebounds, and four steals.

Junior Josh Dollard returned to his native Pee Dee and led USCA with 19 points and eight rebounds. Chris Commons added 13 points and Kingsley Oguchi 12 points while becoming the seventh player in Pacer history to surpass 1,000 points for his career.

Francis Marion would take its only lead of the contest at 5-4 on a three-pointer by Clark. Oguchi answered with a layup at the other end to put the Pacers up for good. The USCA lead would grow to 16-7, but the Patriots rallied to within 16-13 after another Clark three-pointer.

USCA then scored 14 of the game’s next 17 points to lead 30-16, and the Pacers would head to the locker room at halftime with that same 14-point margin, at 38-24.

Following intermission, the margin quickly swelled to 19 points (49-30). Francis Marion would chip away at the deficit, and when Sam Smith scored on an offensive stick-back at the 8:03 mark, the Patriots trailed only 59-51.

Dollard scored the next five points to push the lead back to 13 and the Patriots would never get within single digits again.

Francis Marion hit only 8-of-14 from the foul line, while USCA was 17-of-22.

The FMU Men will entertain Georgia Southwestern State University on Saturday at 4 p.m. The game will be broadcast on WWFN-FM 100.1 The Fan and televised on Time Warner Cable’s channel 11 in Florence.