SPARTANBURG, S.C. – For the final time during the regular season and the final time for a group of seven seniors, USC Upstate men's basketball took the floor at the G.B. Hodge Center looking to close out the season's final home game with momentum heading into the 2024 Big South Men's Basketball Championship. For the third straight season, the Spartans captured that momentum and sent their seniors out on a high note as Upstate prevailed in the final seconds against regional rival Presbyterian Wednesday evening.
 
Seeing Presbyterian tie the game on a three-pointer with 10 seconds to play, Upstate welcomed the challenge of driving the length of the floor as redshirt junior Trae Broadnax did just that, getting downhill to lay home the game-winning layup with one-second remaining. Wednesday's game-winner saw Broadnax on the other side after earning the assist on each of the Spartans' prior game-winners during the 2023-24 season.
 
With Broadnax's bucket, he joined a group of five Spartans scoring in double-figures, a mark Upstate had not reached since its second game of the 2024 calendar year (Jan. 6 versus Winthrop) as the quintet featured balanced scoring. None of the five Spartans scored more than 13 points, but 10 of the 11 players appearing in the box score for Upstate scored.
 
Game Information
Score: USC Upstate 74; Presbyterian 72
Records: USC Upstate (10-19; 5-11 Big South); Presbyterian (13-17; 5-10 Big South)
Location: G.B. Hodge Center | Spartanburg, S.C.
 
How It Happened
First Half

• Seeing both teams come up empty on their first possessions of the game, Upstate went back down the court and opened the game's scoring as Nick Alves laid one home. Presbyterian countered with the next eight points to grab the lead for the first time, its largest lead of the night.
• Snapping the Blue Hose's longest scoring run, Alves provided the layup as he bookended the run from the visitors. His second field goal of the night set up a 10-2 scoring stretch for Upstate as it fought back to retake the advantage.
• While Presbyterian scored each time the Spartans took the lead during the lengthy scoring stretch as the run tilted in favor of Upstate 14 to eight coming out of the under-12 media timeout. Upstate, however, countered the game's fourth tie with a 6-0 scoring run to control the advantage at the under-eight stoppage.
• Out of the timeout, the Blue Hose tallied the next four points to pull within two before Upstate fashioned its lengthiest scoring stretch of the game with nine straight markers, building its largest lead at 11 points. Presbyterian chipped away at the Spartans' lead, pulling it down from double digits as the half commenced, but Jalen Breazeale hit the final bucket of the half to send Upstate to the locker room with a nine-point advantage.

 
Second Half

• Scrapping its way back into the game, Presbyterian opened the second period with the first five markers, cutting the deficit to four before Upstate answered with the next five points to push the lead back to nine. Over the next eight minutes of gameplay, the two teams went back-and-forth with one another with the Spartans holding a slight advantage, not seeing its lead slip any lower than five points until the 9:46 mark to play in the half.
• After Justin Bailey sent the lead back to six points with a three, the Blue Hose crafted a 6-0 scoring run to tie the game for the first time since the 11:19 mark of the first half, forcing an Upstate timeout and a media with 8:12 to play.
• Following the timeout, Upstate notched the next three tallies as it worked itself back to the lead, but Presbyterian countered to even the game with 6:02 to play. The Spartans swung momentum back in their favor with a 5-0 scoring stretch, building the largest lead the remainder of the game would see. Presbyterian answered, pulling the lead back to one before Nick Alves delivered a three-point advantage in favor of the Spartans with two minutes to play.
• With neither side scoring into the final seconds and Upstate holding the advantage, the Blue Hose used a full timeout to draw up a sideline out-of-bounds play that resulted in a wing three to knot the game at 72 and leaving just 10 seconds for Upstate to respond. The Spartans did just that as Trae Broadnax took the ensuing in-bounds the length of the floor, laying in the game-winner with one second remaining, lifting Upstate to the victory.

 
Notable

• With its victory Wednesday against Presbyterian, Upstate has closed each of the past three seasons with a win in its final home game. Each of the three seasons has also seen the victory fall on Senior Day with the streak dating back to the 2021-22 season.
• One of five members of the team's group of double-figure scorers, Patrick Iriel dropped in a career-high 10 markers, becoming the 12^th Spartan to score in double-figures this season. Based on available data, the 12 double-figure scorers in 2023-24 ties Texas State for the most in the nation while the total comprises 85 percent of the team's roster.
• Following up his career-high eight assists against Winthrop, Jalen Breazeale passed out seven more assists Wednesday against the Blue Hose. His totals in consecutive games make him the first Spartan since Dalvin White to pass out seven or more assists in consecutive games when White did so in three straight contests from Jan 8-15, 2021.
• Hitting six threes Wednesday versus Presbyterian, Upstate improved its streak of consecutive games with at least one made-three pointer to 901 games, a streak dating back to the 1994-95 season. The stretch also includes each of the Spartans' 532 games at the NCAA Division I level (2007-pres.).

 
Up Next for the Spartans
With Upstate's second conference "bye" coming Saturday, the Spartans' turn their preparation to the 2024 Big South Men's Basketball Championship. The event features a new home, the Qubein Center in High Point, N.C., and takes place from March 6-10. Upstate awaits the results of the remaining Big South games before seeding would be determined.
 
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