Clayton State Shocks Augusta State 63-62

AIKEN, S.C.-- Seventh seeded Clayton State pulled off the biggest upset of the Peach Belt Conference tournament so far Friday afternoon when the Lakers overcame a dominating first-half performance by second-seeded Augusta State to go on and defeat the No. 10-ranked Jaguars, 63-62, in the Friday’s quarterfinals at the Convocation Center.

Will Lewis gave the Lakers the stunning victory when he hit the front end of a one-and-one with 20 seconds remaining in the game.

Clayton State, which improves to 15-14, advances to Saturday’s semifinals where it will play the No. 3 Georgia College/No. 6 Columbus State winner at 6 p.m. Augusta State, which drops to 22-6, will probably earn a berth into next week’s South Atlantic Regional as one of the top -ranked teams in the region.

Tracy Williams led the Lakers with a career-high 23 points, while Bernard Fields and Michael Sloan added 11 and 10 points respectively. Brian Kelly led Clayton State in rebounds with eight.

Tyrekus Bowman’s 15 points moved the ASU senior up to third on the PBC’s all-time scoring list with 1,668 points. Garret Siler added 12 points and eight rebounds for the Jags, while Demetrius Howard added 11 points.

After trailing by as many as 18 points in the first half and down 34-23 at halftime, Clayton State wasted no time cutting into the Jaguars lead. The Lakers got back under double digits when Fields scored the first basket of the second half to trim it to 34-25 and Williams followed with a three-pointer to make it 34-28 at 18:23. Lewis’ right-side dunk put the Lakers within three at 38-35 with 15:09 remaining and they finally tied the game at 46 on Sloan’s three pointer at 9:34.

After ties at 48 and 50, the Jaguars went on an 8-1 run to take a 58-51 lead on a Ben Madgen steal and layup with 3:09 remaining. The Lakers countered when Fields made two three-pointers to key a run aided by a Sloan three and a Lewis field goal to tie the game at 62-62 with 58 seconds left.

The Jaguars opened the game with a 12-0 run and didn’t allow a Clayton State score until Williams hit two free throws at 15:35. The Lakers hit their first field goal on a Sloan dunk at 15:10 to make it 12-4.

ASU biggest lead of the first half came with 7:33 left when Steve Smith scored on a layup to give the Jags a 29-11 lead. Clayton State went on a 12-5 run to finish the half and cut the margin to 34-23.

The Lakers connected on 23-of-60 field goals for 38.3 percent, including 7-of-17 three pointers for 41.2 percent. Clayton State was 10-of-20 from the free throw line for 50 percent. Augusta State made 22-of-52 floor shots for 42.3 percent, including 8-of-25 three pointers for 32 percent. The Jags were 10-of-12 from the free throw line for 83.3 percent.

Boxscore

 Game 9 – Clayton State vs. Augusta State – Quotes

Augusta State Head Coach Dip Metress:

“We had a hard time keeping them off the boards, we were up eleven at the half with our two main guys in foul trouble I thought we were in a good situation.”

“We knew how hard they were going to play, we knew they were playing for survival to stay in postseason play, but it was a very emotional loss.”

Clayton State Head Coach Gordon Gibbons:

“This game started a different from most, we were down early, but the biggest thing we preach to our guys is that you play the first half to get to the second half.”

“I thought we really responded in the second half, our defense and our press are always the key for us and they were big for us when the game was on the line again tonight.”

“Whenever you have to guard Augusta they have so many weapons and are efficient on offense and the guys just have to work, and I think our guys did that tonight.”

“This was a great win for us and it keeps us alive. Every team’s goal is to win your conference championship and advance to the national tournament.”

Clayton State guard Michael Sloan:

“We knew it was going to be tough, I have played these guys the last two years and we were able to get the stops we needed down the stretch to get the win.”

Clayton State forward Will Lewis:

“Everyone was on the same page and stayed together, we depended on our defense to get stops because we knew we had that all season.”