CLINTON, S.C. - The Presbyterian College men's basketball team put forth a solid effort Thursday evening in front of a superb crowd at the Templeton Center, downing North Greenville in an exhibition game 60-57.

Leading the way for the Blue Hose, who have the fewest upperclassmen playing in Division I this season, was sophomore Chase Holmes, who tallied a game-high 21 points to go along with five rebounds and a team-best four assists. Redshirt-freshman Jake Troyli netted 10 points to go along with a team-high six boards.

PC was out-rebounded 43-30, but the team connected on 44.4 percent of its shots. The Blue Hose canned 24 buckets, five of which were from long range. The team also hit on seven-of-eight charity tosses for 87.5 percent.

Rookie Zach Faircloth poured in nine points, all of which came on three-point shots. Redshirt-junior Walt Allen tallied eight points. Freshman Khalid Mutakabbir totaled six points and had three steals.

North Greenville was led by Paul Harrison's 18 points and nine rebounds. Harrison had a chance to tie the contest as the buzzer sounded. After corralling a rebound under the basket, he took two dribbles out to the three-point line, turned around and fired off a shot that hit the front of the rim and skimmed over the other side.

Up by seven after the first 20 minutes of play, PC extended the lead to 16 on a Faircloth three-point shot, 51-35, with just under 10 minutes to play. However, the Crusaders would not give up. The team slowly climbed back into the game against the young Blue Hose.

Faircloth's bucket turned out to be the only points for head coach Gregg Nibert's team for 5:26 as NGU went on a 14-0 run to cut the working margin to just two, 51-49. Mutakabbir hit a lay-up to make the score 53-49, but Kyler Boooher countered with a three-point shot.

The Blue Hose extended the one-point lead to three on Troyli's lay-up with 3:57 to play. Up by five with 2:37 on the clock, the Crusaders worked the ball around to Luke Lattimer, who hit a three pointer to make the score 57-55. Holmes answered the call with a long ball of his own, but Harrison was able to get an easy bucket for what turned out to be the final score of the night.

Neither team could make a basket in the final 1:34 of the game.

PC jumped out to a quick lead to start the game after Holmes hit a pair of free throws to open the scoring. Allen connected on a short jumper for a 4-0 advantage. Just a few minutes later and after two baskets by teammates Troyli and Mutakabbir, Holmes went coast-to-coast to give the Blue Hose a 10-5 advantage.

North Greenville cut PC's lead to two at 15-13 with 12 minutes left in the half, and the teams traded points for almost the remainder of the first half. The score was tied at 15-15 and 19-19 with just over four minutes left before PC regained the lead on a lay-up by Allen. The Blue Hose opened up the scoring in the final minutes with help from Holmes and a pair of free throws by freshman Jay Reynolds to take a 29-22 lead into the locker room at half time.

The Blue Hose open the 2009-10 season at Clemson on Friday, Nov. 13 at 8 p.m.