January 7, 2008 – ATLANTA – Purists would call it winning ugly. Turning the ball over 20 times, hitting only 55 percent of free throws and letting an inexperienced team hang around to the end is no work of art. But any home win against a conference opponent is a thing of beauty to a team and its fans.

That was the case, today, when the Maroon Tigers beat SIAC rival Paine 65-58 at Forbes Arena. The feisty Lions out-rebounded the taller Maroon Tigers 48-38 and refused to fold, forcing Brewer’s Bunch to earn every basket to remain unbeaten at home.

Except for about two minutes in the second half, Morehouse led all the way. The Maroon Tigers never gained a comfortable lead and kept the home-town faithful on the edge of their seats.

With a balanced attack that has characterized Morehouse all season, four Maroon Tiger starters scored in double figures. The only starter to not score in double figures was Kenney Boyd who played only 23 minutes, despite not being in foul trouble.

Jason Reese led the way for Morehouse, with 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Along with his third double-double of the season, the team captain from Greenville, GA chipped in two assists and two blocks.

Travis Floyd, who scored 11 points in 23 minutes, could easily have been called Trey-vis, because of all the threes in his stats package. The junior point guard hit three shots from the field, went 3-of-3 from the free-throw line, pulled down three rebounds, and had three assists and three steals.

Forward Jerry Felder held a private block party against the visitors from Augusta, blocking six shots, several in spectacular fashion. To put it into perspective, the entire Paine team blocked only four Morehouse shots. The 12 Morehouse blocks were the highest total this season. Felder finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Brenden Stoner hit two big three pointers and collected 10 point, to go with two rebounds, two assists and two steals. Jelani Figures hit his only two shot attempts and only two free throw attempts and contributed seven points.

Paine’s Jason Smalls hit 7-of-11 shots and led all scorers with 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Alan Walker was the only other Lion in double figures, with 10 points.

Morehouse raised its record to 7-2 (4-1 SIAC), while Paine slipped to 3-7 (2-4 SIAC).

The Maroon Tigers will travel to Birmingham, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (Central Time) to face the Miles College Golden Bears. In their last meeting on December 8, Morehouse beat Miles 85-71 in Forbes Arena.