The Southside Virginia Community College men’s basketball team picked up one of its biggest ever regular season wins after topping Bryant & Stratton College, the eighth-ranked team in the NJCAA D2 national polls, 83-73 on Sunday afternoon in the Charles Coburn Classic at Pitt CC.

It was the school’s first-ever win against a Top 10 nationally ranked junior college team. The win improved SVCC to 2-3 on the season while Bryant & Stratton lost for the first time to fall to 7-1.

“What a great win for our program,” said SVCC coach Dennis Smith. “Our young men battled from the opening tip and never stopped fighting. We have played a brutal early season schedule and one of our goals was to beat a nationally ranked team. This was our third opportunity and we took advantage.”

SVCC fell behind 15-4 early but Anthony Harris knocked down two long treys to cut the lead to five.

A bucket by Jahmel Johnson and a 3-point play by Reggie Dennis cut the Bobcats lead to 29-23 at the 2:23 mark of the first half.

Bryant & Stratton took a 39-29 lead to the halftime break.

Trailing by as many as 14 with under 10 minutes to play, the Panthers begin to claw back.

Kaimonne Douglas hit seven straight free-throws over a two-minute period to cut the Bobcats lead to nine at the 7:21 mark.

A trey by Douglas and a 3-point play by Johnson cut the Bryant & Stratton lead to 67-59 with 6:01 left to play.

A steal and bucket by Dennis at the 5:46 mark cut the lead to six and SVCC fought back to knot the score at 72 on a deep trey by Harris at the 3:06 mark.

Williams hit a trey at the 1:33 mark to give SVCC its first lead of the game at 75-72 and Douglas buried a trey with 33 seconds left to give SVCC a 78-73 lead.

The local team went 6-for-6 at the line over the last twenty seconds to seal the win.

Douglas led SVCC with 24 points while Williams scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

Dennis scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds while Johnson scored 13 points and added 13 rebounds.

Harris also finished in double figures with 11 points.

SVCC will return home on Saturday for a 2 p.m. date against the College of Southern Maryland at Brunswick HS.