Limestone’s Terrell Smith drives to the basket against a USC-Aiken defender during Wednesday’s game at the Timken Center. The Limestone College men’s basketball made it hard on USC-Aiken to run its offense on Wednesday.

The Saints held the Pacers to just 25 percent shooting from the field in the first half en route to a convincing 78-52 victory at the Timken Center.

“We won the game with our defense,” said Limestone coach Larry Epperly, who served as head coach at USC-Aiken before being hired by Limestone. “Our defense allowed us to get easy baskets.”

Andre Coleman had a threepointer to push the Saints lead to 32-16 with 4:36 left in the first half. Limestone’s Terrell Smith had another three-pointer to extend the lead to 39-18.

Sam Hampton, a freshman from Chester, also had a big first half, scoring a career-high 10 points. He finished with a game-high 15 points.

“Sam had a big game for us,” Epperly said.

Limestone improves to 5-3 overall and USC-Aiken falls to 5-7.

Smith had 12 points and Marq Bell added 11 for the Saints. Shawn Poppie, who left the game in the second half with a sprained ankle, and Marques Williams each scored nine points.

Senior center Colin Pond had a game-high nine rebounds.

USC-Aiken’s Cory Broyles led his squad with 11 points, while Kingsley Oguchi had nine.

The first half ended with Limestone holding a 41-20 advantage. The Saints shot 52 percent from the field.

The Saints will return to action against conference-rival Queens on Wednesday, January 3, at the Timken Center.

Epperly said the players will return to school on Dec. 26., to begin preparations for Queens.