AUGUSTA, Ga. – Despite dominating the first half on both ends of the floor, the GRU Augusta Jaguars couldn't keep it going as they fell 82-73 to USC Aiken in Peach Belt Conference action Wednesday night in Christenberry Fieldhouse.

The Jags (21-6, 14-4 PBC) forced the Pacers into multiple turnovers right out of the gate, converting them into 12 points as KJ Sherrill found his groove in the paint and D'Angelo Boyce and Devon Wright-Nelson each were hitting from range. A 15-0 run, featuring points from both Sherrills, Ryan Weems, Boyce, and Wright-Nelson, spanned four minutes and left GRU with a 31-16 lead with 4:06 in the period, and they extended the lead as high as 20 before heading into halftime up 41-25.

Eight different Jags scored in the half as they shot 52 percent from the floor on just 13-of-25 shooting, with 12-of-14 free throws made as they held their opponents to 34.8 percent.

But the second half showed a flipped script, as the Pacers (25-3, 17-1 PBC) fired off a 25-5 run from the 17:26 mark for the next eight minutes as they took the lead on a DeVontae Wright lay-up with 10:08 left. They extended the lead to five after two Ronald Zimmerman free throws, before Keshun Sherrill bombed a three from the left side and Wright-Nelson took a finesse pass from Boyce to the rim to knot things back up at the 4:50 mark.

Things began to unravel with just under three minutes to go, however. Trailing by two, Keshun Sherrill fouled Wright on a made basket, but chatter from the GRU bench drew a technical foul, allowing Aiken to build a seven-point lead. The Jags battled, using a jumper by Keshun Sherrill and two Boyce free throws to cut it to three. But on the ensuing full court press, Roman Hill grabbed his defender for a foul and was assessed a technical in addition to a regular foul, getting ejected from the game as the Pacers built up the lead again that was too much.

The Pacers took the game 82-73 lead by Wright's game-high 26 points. The Sherrill Bros. each had 15 GRU points, while Weems tacked on 11 and Wright-Nelson 10. The Jags wrap up the regular season this Saturday, March 1for a PBC game against Flagler in Christenberry Fieldhouse at 3:30 p.m.