COLUMBIA, SC – Fort Valley State University men's basketball team (FVSU) (11-12; 8-7) were beaten 84-66 in a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) matchup with Benedict College (BC) (17-5; 10-4) Monday night in Columbia.
 
The Wildcats went up 8-2 to start the game but BC took a 12-11 lead with 11:39 on the clock. FVSU clawed back to regain a 20-18 lead with 8:11 on the scoreboard. Over the next few minutes, the teams tied the game three times and traded baskets the rest of the way sending BC to halftime up 39-33.
 
Jaylon McMillan led the Wildcats in scoring with 19-points while scoring all of his points from behind the arc. He went 5 of 12 from the field, 5 of 9 from 3-point land and hit 4 of 4 free throws. Trey Elliott and J. R. Bryant each added 12-points with Elliott pulling in seven rebounds. Walter Foster led the team with eight rebounds, seven points and blocked four shots. Jamaal Garror had seven boards and eight points.
 
The Tigers outrebounded the Wildcats 41-36 while they held FVSU to just 36.7% (22-60) field goal shooting. FVSU hit 50% (12-24) of their 3-point shots and made 62.5% (10-16) of their foul shots.
 
Benedict was led by Brandon Morris with 25-points and 12 rebounds. BC hit 44.1% of their shots from the floor, 61.1% in three-pointers and made 81.3% from the charity stripe. 
 
The Tigers outscored FVSU 30-16 in the paint, but the Wildcats outscored BC 32-19 from the bench.
 
FVSU's largest lead of six-points came at the 14:54 mark in the first half, while BC's largest lead of 26 came in the second half with 59 seconds left.
 
The Tigers came out of the locker room on fire as they could not miss a basket running the lead to 20-points twice. The closest FVSU got in the second half was eight (33-41) at the 19:33 mark.
 
The Wildcats next game is at home Senior Night with Paine College on Saturday at 8 p.m.