Box Score (.pdf)

Charleston, S.C. – The season came to an end for the USC Upstate men's basketball team on Tuesday evening as the Spartans fell 71-52 to the Charleston Southern Buccaneers in the first round of the Big South Men's Basketball Championship inside the Buc Dome.

USC Upstate finishes with a 6-26 overall record while Charleston Southern improves to 16-14 on the season.

A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS

• Everette Hammond led the Spartans with 17 points and seven rebounds (ties career-high) in a career-best 37 minutes of playing time.
• Deion Holmes contributed 10 points and two assists.
• Dalvin White added nine points on 3-of-5 shooting.
• Brandon Martin scored eight points and grabbed four rebounds.
• Jure Span finished with two steals.
• Nevin Zink set a new career-high with three blocks.
• Christian Keeling led all players with a game-high 22 points for the Buccaneers.
• Travis McConico contributed 19 points and had six rebounds along with Dontrell Shuler.
• Phlandrous Fleming dished out a game-high six assists.
• USC Upstate held a 32-31 advantage in rebounds and finished the game shooting 35.3 percent (18-of-51) from the field.
• The game featured seven ties and four lead changes.

FIRST HALF BREAKDOWN

• Charleston Southern opened the game on an 8-4 run and took a four-point lead at the 15:37 mark on a layup by Keeling.
• Martin and Hammond combined for the next four points as USC Upstate tied the score at 8-8 with 14:35 remaining.
• The Buccaneers took their largest lead of the half at 15-10 with 12:39 left on a 3-pointer from Deontaye Buskey.
• The score would be tied a total of three times over the next 4:26 with the last coming at 20-20 when Charleston Southern evened the score on a 3-pointer from McConico.
• The Spartans would then go on a 7-0 run during the following four minutes and led 27-20 with 4:28 to go on Martin's jumper.
• A pair of free throws by Martin kept USC Upstate's lead at seven points, 29-22, with 2:52 remaining.
• The Buccaneers closed out the first half on a 7-0 run over the final 2:25.
• Nate Louis tied the score with 52 seconds left to send the Spartans into halftime tied 29-29.

SECOND HALF BREAKDOWN

• Charleston Southern began the second half outscoring USC Upstate 12-6 and went ahead 41-35 on a jumper from Keeling.
• Holmes followed the next possession with a layup to cut the Spartans deficit down to 41-37 with 13:50 left.
• The Buccaneers answered with a 9-0 run that lasted 2:13 to extend their lead to 50-37.
• USC Upstate got as close as 11 points twice over a stretch of 28 seconds with the last coming at 52-41 with 9:13 remaining on Holmes' layup.
• Charleston Southern led by double-figures for the game's final 12 minutes.
• Hammond knocked down a 3-pointer at the 6:44 mark to put the score at 60-48.
• The Buccaneers took their largest lead of the game at 21 points, 71-50, with 1:32 remaining on two free throws by Duncan Lexander.
• White's jumper with 1:02 remaining made the final score 71-52.

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