Box Score (.pdf)

Spartanburg, S.C. – Deion Holmes scored a game-high 34 points, and Malik Moore added a season-high 27, to lead the USC Upstate men's basketball team to a 91-79 victory over the Stetson Hatters on Thursday evening from Eddie and Ann Payne Arena in the G.B. Hodge Center.

USC Upstate improves to 7-20 on the season and 2-8 in ASUN play while Stetson falls to 10-17 overall and 2-8 in the conference.

A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS

• Holmes finished with 30 or more points for the second time this season and marks the second-highest point total of his career. He tied his career-high of 13 field goals after shooting 13-for-21 overall and added eight rebounds.
• Moore fell just one point shy of equaling his career-high and tied his career-best shooting total at 10-for-15.
• Ramel Thompkins contributed 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting behind the 3-point line and collected three steals.
• Mike Cunningham and Jure Span combined to dish out 10 of the team's 14 assists with Cunningham tallying a team-best six and Span four.
• Divine Myles led the Hatters offensively with 26 points, seven rebounds and seven assists after going 11-for-16 from the field.
• Abayomi Iyiola contributed 10 points and nine rebounds.
• The Spartans finished the game shooting 48.5 percent (32-of-66) from the field.
• USC Upstate held an 18-6 advantage in points off turnovers after forcing Stetson into 14 turnovers.
• The Spartans committed a season-low four turnovers in the game. The previous mark was six at Gardner-Webb on Dec. 2, 2017.
• Both teams finished with 19 second chance points.
• The game featured eight lead changes and seven ties.

FIRST HALF BREAKDOWN

• Neither team led by more than four points for nearly the first 14 minutes of the contest.
• USC Upstate jumped out to an early 5-2 lead less than a minute into the game when Thompkins connected on his first triple.
• The Hatters followed with a 9-2 run over the next 3:12 to hold an 11-7 advantage.
• The next three minutes saw the score tied twice before Holmes knocked down a 3-pointer at the 12:48 mark to give the Spartans a 16-13 lead.
• USC Upstate led by three points twice during a stretch of almost five minutes capped when another 3-pointer by Thompkins gave it a 30-27 advantage with 6:57 left.
• Thompkins sparked a 15-0 run for the Spartans near the end of the half, covering over three minutes, to increase their lead out to 45-29 with 2:31 to go. He scored 10 points during the run.
• Moore's dunk with 1:13 left sent USC Upstate into halftime leading 47-33.
• The Spartans held Stetson scoreless for the final 1:31.

SECOND HALF BREAKDOWN

• USC Upstate maintained its 16-point advantage to start the second half when Holmes' tip-in basket made the score 51-35 with 17:12 remaining.
• The Hatters used a 16-3 run that took up a stretch of 2:41 to get back to within seven, 56-49, on a layup by Myles.
• The Spartans outscored Stetson 8-4 over the following 3:18 and increased their lead to 64-53 at the 11:01 mark on a 3-pointer from Holmes.
• The Hatters made it a one-point game courtesy of an 11-1 run and trailed 65-64 with 7:08 left.
• Myles gave Stetson a 66-65 lead the following possession with his layup.
• Isaiah Anderson answered the next series with a dunk and gave USC Upstate a lead it would not relinquish.
• The dunk helped the Spartans to a 16-5 run and led 81-71 with 2:48 to go.
• USC Upstate would lead by as many as 15 points twice after that with the last coming at the 1:17 mark when a dunk by Holmes put the score at 89-74.
• The Spartans finished the game's final 4:36 outscoring the Hatters 18-10 en route to the 91-79 victory.

UP NEXT

• USC Upstate hosts Florida Gulf Coast for Homecoming on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.

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