SAVANNAH, GA. – Center Josh Kindred scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Lenior-Rhyne College held Francis Marion University to one field goal over the final seven minutes to take a 55-47 win, Friday afternoon (Dec. 15) at the Chatham Orthopaedics Holiday Classic in Savannah, Ga.

Francis Marion (3-5) will meet 25th-ranked Eckerd College, Saturday at 3 p.m. on the final day of the classic, which is being hosted by Armstrong Atlantic State University.  Live stats for the contests are available at www.athletics.armstrong.edu/basketball/bk2006classic.html

Senior guard Dominic Bishop returned from an injury that forced him to miss the last two games to lead Francis Marion with 15 points.  Freshman guard Cortne’ Baker and sophomore forward Akeene Coakley both added nine points.  Coakley, playing in his first game of the year, also hauled down a team-high eight rebounds.

Francis Marion took a 14-6 lead midway through the opening stanza following a basket in the lane by Bishop.  Lenior-Rhyne, which misfired on 11 of its first 13 field goal attempts, responded with a 13-1 run that gave the Bears a 19-15 advantage.  However, a jumper by Baker with nine ticks left gave the Patriots a 22-21 advantage at intermission.

Neither team led by more than one basket through most of the second half.  A bucket by Baker with 7:05 remaining gave the Patriots their final lead at 42-41.  FMU would then miss five of its final six shots, while also missing four of six free throws.

A layup by Donte Watson with 6:52 left put the Bears ahead to stay.  Kindred had five points during Lenoir-Rhyne’s 14-5 run to end the game.

Lenoir-Rhyne outrebounded Francis Marion 40-32 and held an 11-4 advantage in second-chance points.

12-15-06 3:00 p.m. at Savannah, Ga. (Alumni Arena)

LENOIR-RHYNE 55, FRANCIS MARION 47

LENOIR-RHYNE (4-4)

Kindred, Josh 6-10 7-9 19; Springs, Marcus 5-9 0-2 12; Watson, Donte 2-6 2-2

6; Mauldin, Eric 1-9 4-4 6; Boardman, Tyler 1-2 1-2 3; Hinds, Stephen 1-3

0-0 2; Bratton, Reggie 1-7 0-0 2; Allen, Darren 0-0 2-2 2; Slocum, Jamar 1-1

0-4 2; Cook, Jonathan 0-0 1-2 1; Crawford, Ryan 0-1 0-2 0. Totals 18-48

17-29 55.

FRANCIS MARION (3-5)

Bishop, Dominic 5-7 3-4 15; Coakley, Akeene 3-12 2-4 9; Baker, Cortne' 4-12

1-2 9; Morley, Nate 2-3 0-0 6; Dorsey, Raymond 1-4 1-2 3; Burton, Rodrick

0-6 3-3 3; Ashford, Kevin 1-4 0-0 2; Hall, Daniel 0-0 0-0 0; Lee, Artis 0-0

0-0 0; Borojevich, Greg 0-0 0-1 0; Peterson, Larnelle 0-1 0-0 0. Totals

16-49 10-16 47.

Halftime: Francis Marion 22  Lenoir-Rhyne 21.

3-point goals-Lenoir-Rhyne 2-15 (Springs, Marcus 2-6; Mauldin, Eric 0-6;

Hinds, Stephen 0-1; Bratton, Reggie 0-1; Crawford, Ryan 0-1), Francis Marion

5-15 (Morley, Nate 2-3; Bishop, Dominic 2-2; Coakley, Akeene 1-4; Burton,

Rodrick 0-2; Peterson, Larnelle 0-1; Baker, Cortne' 0-3). Fouled

out--Lenoir-Rhyne-None, Francis Marion-Baker, Cortne'. Rebounds-Lenoir-Rhyne

40 (Kindred, Josh 11), Francis Marion 32 (Coakley, Akeene 8).

Assists-Lenoir-Rhyne 13 (Hinds, Stephen 4), Francis Marion 4 (Baker, Cortne'

3). Total fouls-Lenoir-Rhyne 17, Francis Marion 25. A-104