Holmes, South Carolina Upstate hold off South Carolina State

Dec 15, 2018, 11:47 pm

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Deion Holmes scored a season-high 35 and made the go-ahead basket on a 3-pointer with 1:31 left in the game to help South Carolina Upstate beat South Carolina State 88-84 on Saturday.

Holmes' 3-pointer made it 82-80 for the Spartans (3-8) and Dalvin White hit another 3 on the next possession to extend the lead to 85-81 with 43 seconds left. White split a pair of free throws with 20.4 seconds left and Holmes made both with 9.7 seconds left to push the lead back to four.

Malik Moore scored 22 points, Bryson Mozone added 10 and White finished with eight for South Carolina Upstate.

South Carolina State's Ian Kinard was called for a technical foul with 4:28 left in the game and the Spartans made both free throws and followed with a 3-pointer to build a 79-70 lead. But the Bulldogs (2-11) rallied with 10 straight points to take their first lead of the game at 80-79 on Damni Applewhite's free throw with 1:53 left.

Applewhite finished with 27 points and Ozante Fields had 24 points and 11 rebounds for South Carolina State.