Spartanburg, S.C. - Erskine's balanced attack pulled away from Presbyterian in the early stages of the second half to whip the ragged Blue Hose 65-51 in the opening game.

Presbyterian, playing without the services of starter Richard Quillen, held the Flying Fleet to a 31-22 half time advantage as big Bill Simpson pumped in 14 of Erskine's first-half points.

The Fleet, defending champions, looked anything but that as it missed plays, passes and shots in the first half.  Presbyterian was ragged on the floor, but freshman center Jimmy Kiser of Gaffney and co-captain Doug Allen kept the Hose in contention until early in the last half.

In the first six minutes of the second period, Erskine pumped in 10 points while holding PC to five. After Kiser scored on a free throw, Don Whitehead, Bobby Edwards, and Bobby Wilkes scored for Erskine to give the Fleet a 36-24 lead.

Allen led a brief Blue Hose surge when he cracked in three straight shots and Martin added another while Wilkes and Simpson marked for Erskine to cut the margin to 10 points, 43-33.

Wilkes and Whitehead led an Erskine defense that stopped PC cold after that.  Slowly, the Fleet lived up to its reputation and began easing ahead until finally with 1:28 to go, it stretched the lead to 20 points at 63-43.

The Box Score:

Erskine FG FT  TP
Whitehead 6 4-4  16
Edwards 4 1-1  9
Simpson 9 1-2  19
Mize 2 0-0  4
Wilkes 6 1-1  13
G'ham 0 0-0  0
Smoak 0 0-0  0
Walker 1 0-1  2
Adams 1 0-1  2
Oliver 0 0-0  0
Totals 29 7-10  65

Presbyterian FG FT   TP
Allen 5 3-5   13
Hudson 1 0-1   2
Kiser 5 3-3   13
Martin 7 2-2   16
Stein 1 1-1   3
McLead 0 0-0   0
Lowe 1 2-2   4
Totals 20 11-14  51

Erskine 31 34 - 65
PC 22 29 - 51

Fouled Out - none. Personal Fouls - Erskine 17, PC 15