SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Hampton University men's basketball team fell to USC Upstate at the Hodge Center on Saturday afternoon, as the Spartans beat the Pirates 68-54.
 
The Pirates fell to 6-8 on the season.
 
Junior guard Brian Darden (Hampton, Va.) led the Pirates with 14 points, hitting three 3-pointers. Guard Quinton Chievous (Chicago, Ill.) came off the bench to chip in 11 points, while redshirt junior guard/forward Dwight Meikle (Baltimore, Md.) grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds.
 
Meikle also had nine points.
 
The Pirates shot 32.8 percent (20-for-61) from the floor and hit five of 25 3-pointers (20.0 percent). Hampton shot just 25.8 percent (8-for-31) from the floor in the first half.
 
Hampton went 9-for-18 from the free throw line and held a 40-38 edge in rebounds.
 
The Pirates opened the game on an 8-0 run, taking that lead on a free throw from sophomore center Phillip Reed (Oxnard, Calif.) at the 13:48 mark. Over that span, Meikle had four points. A layup from Chievous at the 12:18 mark gave Hampton a 10-2 lead.
 
USC Upstate responded with a 13-2 run to take a 15-12 lead with 7:26 left in the first half following a 3-point play from Ty Greene. Another 3-point play from Greene with 3:25 left in the half gave the Pirates a 27-19 lead.
 
Darden had a 3-point play of his own with 3:16 left in the half, cutting the Spartans' lead to 27-22.
 
But USC Upstate scored the last eight points of the half, going into the break with a 35-22 lead.
 
The Spartans opened the second half with an 8-2 run, taking a 42-24 lead with 15:57 left to play following a fastbreak layup from Greene. USC Upstate later took a 49-30 lead with 11:41 left to play after a tip-in from Jacob Schulte.
 
The Pirates scored the next eight points, cutting the lead to 49-38 on a 3-pointer from Darden with 10:29 remaining.
 
A fastbreak layup from Chievous with 3:38 left cut the Spartans' lead to 60-50, and Meikle added a jumper with 1:43 left to cut the lead to 62-52.
 
Another Meikle jumper with 54 seconds left cut USC Upstate's lead to 63-54.
 
But the Spartans closed the game by hitting five of their six free throws to clinch the win.
 
USC Upstate (11-4) shot 44.9 percent (22-for-49) from the floor and hit four of 12 3-pointers.
 
Greene led the Spartans with 26 points.
 
The Pirates will hit the road again on Saturday, taking on Bethune-Cookman at 4 p.m. in Daytona Beach, Fla. For more information on Hampton University basketball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.