PBC Tournament - Clayton State Peaks Late to Overtake UNC Pembroke 53-50

AIKEN, S.C .-- The first pairing of the 2008 Peach Belt Conference (PBC) Men’s Basketball Tournament came down to the final buzzer, as Clayton State University’s All-PBC honoree Michael Sloan swatted away a game-tying three attempt by UNC Pembroke’s Sammie Garner, ensuring a 53-50 Laker victory.

Clayton reserve forward Will Lewis tallied a team-best 13 points, getting help from Bernard Fields and Tracy Williams at 12 and 10 points, respectively.

The Lakers came out of the locker-room cold, hitting just 4-of-16 from the opening tip. Both teams shot poorly for the entire first half in the defensive battle, as Clayton made just 9-of-28 (.321) and UNCP hit 8-of-26 (.308). Brave forward Jonathan Hart led all scorers with nine points in the first frame.

Clayton didn’t have the advantage until the 17:53 mark of the second half at 24-23 before the Braves snatched it right back with a quick 15-6 run.

With the Braves up 50-43 with 2:18 remaining, Clayton State put the clamps on, keeping the Braves from scoring again for the remainder of the contest. Down 51-50 with 32 seconds left, Williams ripped off a steal, sending it ahead to Fields for the go-ahead jumper.

The Lakers needed blocks from Brian Kelly and Sloan in the last 10 seconds to preserve the win, knocking down two free-throws for the 53-50 final.

UNCP’s Hart led all scorers with 16 points, yanking down seven rebounds. Fellow forward Jarrell Hunter tallied 11 points with seven boards as well. Zachary Honeycutt added 12 to the game’s effort.

The Braves out-shot Clayton State 39 percent (18-46) to 34 percent (21-61) but lost the battle on the boards 36-32, getting doubled-up in offensive rebounds 16-8.

No. 7-seed Clayton State improves to 14-14 on the season and will advance to play No. 2-seed Augusta State University Friday at 1 p.m. No. 10-seed UNC Pembroke drops to 8-20 with the loss.

Game 3 – UNC Pembroke vs. Clayton State - Quotes

UNC Pembroke head coach Jason Tinsley:
“I thought our effort was really good, I have no complaints about that. At least we finished competing and battling and didn’t come out here and have a bad finish.”

“When we play like we played today we can play with anybody in this league, but we don’t do it enough.”

(On the last offensive play of the game): We got what we wanted, we got a look and players make plays, and give credit to their kid, he made a great defensive play.”

UNC Pembroke’s Jarrell Hunter:
“We just have to learn how to finish games; I feel that if we had handled their pressure we would have won the game easily.”

UNC Pembroke’s Jonathan Hart:
“I knew coming into today’s game that it was going to be a big game, and coming down the stretch I thought we were going to win, but we made a couple mistakes that cost us.”

Clayton State’s head coach Gordon Gibbons:
“We just wanted to get the tournament started off right. We have had a very interested conference run, we have beat some of the better teams in the league and lost to some of the teams that don’t have the top records.”

“Our defense is what we build our team on. Tonight we went to work with the press, and the press was huge for us in the second half, we forced 25 turnovers in the game and I think that was really the difference.”

Clayton State’s Bernard Fields:
“We rebounded pretty good on the offensive boards, but defense really kept us in the game.”

(On the last minute comeback): You could sense the momentum start to turn our way and we turned up the pressure and stayed together all the way until the end.”

Clayton State’s Michael Sloan”
“Defense got us through the year, and it definitely got us through this game. We knew we had to get stops so we got them. It was do or die, win or go home, so we got the job done.”