FORT VALLEY, Ga. – Fort Valley State built as much as an 18-point second-half lead and then held off a furious Benedict rally to take a 75-69 victory over the Tigers on Thursday night in a SIAC men's basketball contest.

The Wildcats broke away from a 31-20 halftime lead to build the lead to 44-26 with 15:45 on a jumper by Brandon Davey. With 6:52 to play, the Wildcats still maintained a nice lead at 59-46.

But the Tigers hit six straight free throws to cut the lead to seven with 5:15 left to play.

A steal and layup by Cassius Bell cut the lead to 65-62 with 1:34 on the clock. After the Wildcats sank a pair of free throws, Bell hit the first of two free throws, and Trevor Eichelberger grabbed the offensive rebound on the second and scored to make it 67-65 with 1:11 left to play.

After two more free throws for the Wildcats, Eichelberger scored a layup to make it 69-67 with 59 seconds remaining. Rickie Jackson stole the ball from the Wildcats, but Antrjuan Albright missed a 3-point attempt. Eichelberger grabbed the offensive rebound, and was fouled. He hit the first of two free throws to cut the lead to a point, 69-68 with 39 seconds remaining.

The Wildcats went back up by three points after a pair of free throws by Corey Hunter, and Bell hit one free throw to make it 71-69 with 30 seconds left. Fort Valley's Brandon Davey hit two free throws with 21 seconds left, but Jackson missed a 3-pointer for the Tigers and Joshua Davis sealed the win for the Wildcats with a fast-break dunk.

Bell scored a season-high 17 points, while Jackson and Albright added 12 points each. Marcus Goode had a game-high 11 rebounds. The Tigers saw their six-game winning streak snapped and fell to 14-9 overall and 13-8 in the SIAC.

Davey had 16 points to lead the Wildcats, who improved to 11-12 overall and 10-10 in the SIAC.

Benedict travels to face Paine College on Saturday in Augusta, Ga., at 3 p.m.