BREVARD, N.C. - The senior duo of DJ McGowan and Nick Jackson combined to score 44 points and the Trojans survived a late rally to hold off Brevard, 78-75, in South Atlantic Conference men's basketball action Wednesday night at Boshamer Gymnasium.

Anderson (2-4, 1-2 SAC), shook off the rust from a seven-day layoff to open the month of December by earning its first conference win of the season. The Trojans remained perfect on the Boshamer Gym hardwood with its hard-fought fifth consecutive victory at Brevard. The Tornados fell to 0-6 overall and 0-3 in league action.

McGowan finished the night with a career-high 24 points on the strength of 8-of-13 shooting from the field. The 6-foot-2 guard narrowly missed his first double-double of the season by recording a career-best nine rebounds, while Jackson added 20 points, including 12 in the first half. Senior center Chris Ross tossed in 12 points and pulled down four rebounds in his first appearance of the season, with senior guard Myson Jones chipping in eight points.

Brevard sophomore guard Trevon Shaw led all scorers with 29 points, while senior forward Darius Moose poured in 22 points. Junior center Alex Moe added 11 points and six boards for the Tornados.

The Trojans jumped out to an early 11-4 lead in the opening minutes, as Jackson fueled the run with three straight 3-pointers in the span of 84 seconds inside the first four minutes of the contest. But the Tornados crept back within a deuce behind a 7-2 surge over the next two-plus minutes.

McGowan dropped in a pair of free throws at the 14:21 mark to slow the Brevard run, but after Shaw connected on a jumper and Jackson followed by draining his fourth trey of the night to give AU an 18-13 advantage, the Trojans suffered through the next 4:38 without scoring a field goal.

The drought enabled Brevard to post a 13-1 run that saw the Tornados turn the five-point deficit into a 26-19 lead with 8:09 left in the opening half. The seven-point advantage turned out to be Brevard's largest of the contest, as Anderson freshman guard Maurice Howard snapped the outburst with a steal and lay-in to spark a 16-2 rally by the Trojans. AU again caught fire from long range, as McGowan followed by connecting on back-to-back 3-pointers and Alani Adekambi added his lone trey of the contest with just more than five minutes left in the first half. McGowan dropped in a layup and Ross added three points to cap the outburst and give the Trojans a 35-28 cushion at the final media timeout of the opening half.

But the Tornados countered by closing the frame with six unanswered points to set the halftime score at 35-34.

AU opened the second stanza with 11 unanswered points of their own as part of a 17-3 surge, with Jones and McGowan each scoring six points during the breakout. The Trojans held at least a six-point advantage over the next 12 minutes of action and led, 71-59, with 3:20 on the clock, when Brevard's Moe ignited a 10-2 run by the Tornados to bring BC within 73-69 with 47 seconds left in the contest.

The Trojans then connected on 5-of-6 from the line inside the final 37 seconds to offset a pair of 3-pointers, first from Moose and then from Jaylon Debardlabon that trimmed AU's lead to just 76-75 with less than five seconds remaining. Jones added a pair of clutch free throws to boost AU's lead to three. After Shaw misfired on two attempts from the line and Brevard was forced to foul, the Trojans were unable to capitalize from the stripe, giving BC one final opportunity to send the game into overtime. But Shaw missed a long 3-pointer at the buzzer, as the Trojans claimed the win.

The Trojans wrap up their brief two-game conference road swing at Newberry on Saturday, then open their longest homestand of the season by welcoming Limestone, Georgia College and Erskine to the Abney Center. Tip-off versus the Wolves is set for 4 p.m. at Eleazer Arena.