COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) men's basketball team suffered an 83-74 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) road loss to the Benedict College (BC) Tigers on Monday night at HRC Arena.
 
The Tigers (10-3, 3-2 SIAC East) and the Badgers both chose to feel each other out in the early stages of the game as the teams went to the first media timeout tied at 5-5 with 14:10 left on the clock. With 7:17 left in the period, senior guard Jared Holland drained a 3-pointer to put SHC on top 29-24 after having trailed 20-12 just four minutes before. Senior guard Jack Morrissey then added a trey to put the Badgers up 32-24 at 6:36 and junior guard Dwight Harris joined the 3-point parade with 34 seconds on the clock as SHC carried a 44-40 advantage into halftime.
 
BC reclaimed a 52-51 lead early in the 2^nd half, but the Badgers answered right back with two buckets on the other end to wrest back a 55-52 margin with 13 minutes left in the game. At 11:54 and the second media timeout of the half, SHC maintained a 58-52 advantage, but fell behind 64-63 off two free throws by Dimitri Cook at 8:03. Mike Udume of BC knocked down a 3-pointer to keep SHC down 69-65 with 6:45 remaining and the Tigers would build out a 75-68 cushion by 4:43.
 
With 2:20 left on the clock, Benedict led 78-72, but William Loyd of SHC found a layup to bring the Badgers within 78-74 at 1:52. BC would secure the victory with 5-of-8 free throws over the final minute.
 
Junior forward Brandon Fischer led the Badgers with 21 points and nine rebounds while Morrissey pitched in 15 and Shellman added 10 points. SHC shot 54% (27-50) from the field and 47.4% (9-19) from 3-point range. The Badgers suffered 11 turnovers versus six steals by BC while making 11-of-17 free throw attempts for a 64.7% showing at the charity stripe.
 
Jelani Watson-Gayle and Brandon Morris scored 18 points each to pace four BC players in double-digit scoring as the Tigers shot 55.3% (26-47) overall and 50% (10-20) from 3-point distance while losing seven turnovers to four Badger steals. Benedict made 75% (21-28) of their free throws, but the Badgers squeaked out a 25 to 23 advantage in rebounding.
 
SHC extended its current losing skid to eight games and now holds a 0-4 record versus BC since joining the SIAC in the 2014-15 season.
 
The Badgers (2-9, 0-3 SIAC West) now take a two-week break for the holidays before returning to home action on Saturday, December 30, with an SIAC match versus the Clark Atlanta University Panthers (10-1, 4-0 SIAC East) at 4 p.m. in the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center.