Miles opened a 24-point lead early in the second half against Benedict and looked poised to coast to an easy victory Thursday night at Knox-Windham Gymnasium. But the 20th-ranked Golden Bears had to stave off a big rally by the Tigers before securing a 65-61 victory for their 22nd consecutive home win.

The Golden Bears looked like their dominant selves in the first half, shooting 54 percent from the field, 46 percent from behind the 3-point line and 86 percent from the free throw line. The closed the half scoring the final seven points, the last two coming after Shannon Jones got a steal and fed Isaiah Davis for a layup on the break to give Miles a 42-27 lead at halftime.

Benedict looked like it was ready to cave at the start of the second half. Miles continued to score at will and opened the half on a 13-4 run. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Tyon Thompson was followed by a 3-ball from Jaden Emory (nine points) to give the Golden Bears a 55-31 edge less than four minutes after intermission. Things were looking bleak for the Tigers.

From there, though, Benedict began to charge. As turnovers, missed jumpers and - more alarming - missed free throws from one of Division II's top shooting teams from the charity stripe began to pile up, the Tigers started to chip away at the deficit.

The Tigers scored 13 consecutive points and held Miles without a field goal for six minutes before Thompson (nine points) nailed another 3-pointer that gave the Golden Bears a 59-44 lead with 10:36 remaining. A tip dunk and short jumper in the lane by Cameron Jernigan sandwiched an 11-0 run by Benedict as the Golden Bears' lead was down to 63-57 with 2:36 to go.

Three more turnovers and two free throws by Cole White with six seconds left brought Benedict to within two points. But Najashi Tolefree (10 points, six rebounds, three assists) made both of his free throws on the other end second later to close out the Tigers and hand Miles its 20th straight regular season win.

White (17 points, eight rebounds), Kameron Foman (10 points, nine rebounds) and Malachi Chavis (10 points) were the top scorers for Benedict. Jernigan (13 points, 14 rebounds, three steals, two blocks), David Williams (11 points, six assists) and Isaiah Jones (11 points, 3-of-3 3-pointers, five rebounds) had big games for Miles, which hosts Allen on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.