ORANGEBURG, S.C. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) men's basketball team endured a 79-52 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) road loss to the Claflin University (CU) Panthers on Saturday afternoon at the Jonas T. Kennedy Health and Physical Education Center.
 
The Panthers (12-1, 5-0 SIAC East) raced out to a 29-13 lead by the 7:05 mark of the 1^st half and held a 43-19 cushion at the intermission. Claflin launched a 7-2 run over the first three minutes of the 2^nd half to build out a 50-21 advantage and never looked back, holding as much as a 62-25 lead with 10:39 left in the in the contest.
 
Sophomore guard Gresyn Rogers scored 15 points and junior forward Brandon Fischer pitched in 10 to lead the Badgers as SHC shot 39.5% (17-43) from the field and 35.7% (5-14) from 3-point range. The Badgers suffered 16 turnovers versus 13 steals by CU while making 13-of-17 free throw attempts for a 76.5% showing at the charity stripe.
 
Austin Lawton scored 14 points to pace five CU players in double-digit scoring as the Panthers shot an even 50% (29-58) overall and 45.5% (10-22) from 3-point distance while losing 15 turnovers to five Badger steals. Claflin made just 57.9% (11-19) of their free throws, but dominated the rebounding column by a 36 to 23 margin.
 
The Badgers (2-8, 0-2 SIAC West) finish this two-game road trip on Monday in Columbia, S.C., with an SIAC match versus the Benedict College Tigers (2-8, 2-2 SIAC East) at 7:30 p.m. (East) at HRC Arena.