The Southside Virginia Community College men’s basketball team pulled away over the final 10 minutes to earn a 113-97 victory over visiting Central International College on Saturday, Feb. 25.

The win completed a 8-4 regular season for the Panthers who will open play in the USA National Postgrad tournament on Thursday in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. SVCC went right to work against CIC, jumping out to a 7-0 lead at the 18:26 mark of the first half on a trey by Tae Holmes.

SVCC took a 15-11 lead at the 16:13 mark on the third trey of the game by Holmes but CIC rallied to knot the score at 19. A runner by Nile Atwater and three straight buckets by Lanthony Joyner gave SVCC a 29-23 lead at the 10:28 mark. A trey by Jermonta James and a lay-up a few seconds later gave the Panthers a 36-25 lead at the 7:59 mark. SVCC took a 51-45 lead to the halftime break.

A trey by Atwater extended the lead to 60-51 at the 17:05 mark of the second half but CIC fought back to trim the lead to a single bucket. Two treys by Joshua Jiggetts and another by Holmes gave the Panthers a 77-69 lead at the 10:50 mark. David Gant hit a trey for SVCC at the 8:08 mark for an 86-77 lead.

A trey by Jiggetts gave SVCC a 100-88 lead at the 3:17 mark and the Panthers pulled away down the stretch.

Holmes and Atwater led SVCC with 18 points apiece while James scored 14, Gant tallied 13, Jiggetts added 12 and Joyner finished with 10. Rias led CIC with 21 points.

SVCC……51 62 — 113

CIC………45 52 — 97

SVCC – Atwater 18, Holmes 18, James 14, Joshua Jiggetts 12, Joyner 10, Joseph Jiggetts 2, Gant 13, Trent 4, Callis 2, Monroe 3.

Tae Holmes was one of six players in double figures in SVCC’s 113-97 win over visiting CIC on Saturday afternoon. (Dennis Smith/SVCC).