ST. AUGUSTINE – Flagler College held a 70-66 lead with 3:58 left in the game, but it would not score another point as the University of South Carolina Aiken took advantage of three late turnovers and scored six more points to rally to a 72-70 Peach Belt Conference victory Saturday afternoon at Flagler Gymnasium.

USC Aiken improved to 14-5 overall and 8-4 in the Peach Belt. Flagler fell to 8-10 overall and 2-9 in conference play.

Kessler Bell sank a 3-pointer with 3:58 left to go which capped a 14-2 run and gave the Saints a 70-66 lead. But Flagler missed both of its shots in the remainder of the game and committed three costly turnovers which helped USC Aiken rally to the win.

After the second turnover by the Saints, and a Pacers timeout, Mark Matthews made a driving layup with 42 seconds left to tie the game at 70. Another Saints miscue with 29 seconds left led Flagler to foul twice, as it had two fouls to give before heading to the bonus. After the second foul, USC Aiken inbounded the ball in front of its bench. After nearly losing the ball, Jalin Barnes found a streaking Matthews for a layup with one second left for the game-winning shot.

Matthews finished with a game-high 22 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field. Barnes added 17 points, six rebounds and five assists. Henry Bolton III scored 14 points for the Pacers. Kevin Chuisseu grabbed nine rebounds.

Vaughn McCall led Flagler with 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the field. He made 4-of-5 from 3-point range. Ben Bobbitt added 16 points while Chris Williams recorded his team-high seventh double-double with 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Cortlin Davis tallied a team-high six assists.

Flagler heads out on the road on Monday to face Armstrong State University at 7:30 p.m. at Savannah, Georgia.