Due West, SC – Playing their first game in two weeks, Erskine fell at home to Paine College 81-65 in non-conference men’s basketball action at Belk Arena.  Erskine falls to 1-4 on the season while Paine improves to 4-3 overall.

Junior Corey Sorrell (Walton, KY, Northern Kentucky University) led the Fleet with 28 points and 6 rebounds while sophomore Mike Gabbard (Erlanger, KY, Western Kentucky University) contributed 14 points and 4 rebounds.

Paine College was led by James Devlin’s 24 points.  Mario Jordan had 11 points and Tony Baker came off the bench to score 12 points and pull down a game-high 7 rebounds.

Paine opened the game sprinting out to a 14 point lead, 21-7, in the first five minutes.  Following a timeout, Erskine’s Corey Sorrell started an impressive 17-0 Fleet run with a nice inside move.  Sophomore Troy Griffith (Augusta, GA, Evans High School) hit a jump shot with 11:35 left to give Erskine their first lead of the game since the opening minute at 22-21.  The last ten minutes of the half saw 5 lead changes and 4 ties as the teams exchanged baskets.  Neither team could gain more than a three point advantage.  Paine’s Kenny Fluellen scored the last basket of the half at 1:12 to give the Lions a 41-38 lead at halftime.

Both teams struggled offensively to open the second half with Paine holding a six point lead at 48-42 at the fifteen minute mark.  At that point, Paine pushed out to a double-digit lead on back-to-back three point baskets by Devlin and Danny Feliciano forcing Erskine Coach Mark Peeler to call timeout.  The Fleet regrouped and pulled back to within three points after two made free throws by Gabbard with just under 10 minutes left to play.  That would be as close as the Fleet would come as Paine worked their lead back to double-digits over the next six minutes of play.

Erskine shot a respectable 39% from the floor but was only 5-24 from three point range.  Paine College shot an impressive 49% from the floor overall along with 40% from behind the arc.  Both teams shot well from the free throw line with Erskine converting 20-22 (91%) and Paine hitting 19-21 (91.%).

Erskine plays local rivals Lander University and Anderson University on Tuesday and Wednesday next week to conclude their pre-Christmas break portion of their schedule.  Tuesday’s game against Lander starts at 7:00 p.m. while Wednesday’s game against archrival Anderson is set to tip-off at 7:30 p.m. 

Box Score