Clayton State Returns to PBC Championship Game

AIKEN, S.C. – The seventh-seeded Clayton State men’s basketball team will be making its second straight appearance in the Peach Belt Conference tournament championship game after the Lakers upset third-seeded Georgia College & State University, 73-65, Saturday in the semifinal round at the Convocation Center.

The Lakers, who improve to 16-14, will meet the No. 1 USC Aiken/No. 4 North Georgia College winner at 4 p.m. Sunday for the PBC championship and the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Division II national tournament.

GCSU ends its season at 20-10.

Tracy Williams led the Lakers with 21 points on 4-of-8 field goals and 10-of-12 free throws, while Michael Sloan added 13 points and Brian Kelly had 12 points and 11 rebounds.

The Bobcats Shaun Keaton scored a game-high 22 points on 7-of-14 field goals, including 4-of-9 three pointers. He also made 4-of-5 free throws. Aaron Clark chipped in 13 points and seven rebounds.

Clayton State, which led 30-27 at halftime, connected on 22-of-46 shots for 47.8 percent, including 7-of-14 three pointers for 50 percent. The Lakers were 22-of-28 from the free throw line for 78.6 percent.

GCSU was 21-of-56 from the field for 37.5 percent, 9-of-33 from the three-point line for 27.3 percent and 14-of-21 from the free throw line for 66.7 percent.

GCSU raced out to a quick 10-2 lead in the first three minutes of the game, only to have the Lakers battle back and tie the game at 12-12 on two Sloan free throws. The biggest GCSU lead was four points at 26-22 on a Jay Warden free throw at 4:10, but the Lakers battled back to take a 27-26 lead at 1:26 on a Sloan three pointer.

After GCSU battled back to tie the game at 34-34 with 17:16 left in the game, the Lakers went on a 10-0 run to take a 44-34 advantage with 13:34 remaining on a Sloan layup.

GCSU slowly crept back in the game and cut the margin to 53-52 on a Ty Rowland jumper at 7:10.

The Lakers went on a 10-1 run over the next three minutes to take a 63-53 lead with 3:23 remaining.

Boxscore

Game 15 – Clayton State vs. GCSU – Quotes

Clayton State Head Coach Gordon Gibbons
“We were able to do what is really our strength: limit a team that averages 80 points a game and keep them in the high 50’s until the final minutes. That’s our key. We didn’t have a great first half, but we played extremely well in the second by setting the tone in the first part of the second half. We took the lead and continued to stay in control of the game.”

“This is our 18th game in a row and in 17 of those 18 games, we’ve had the lead inside of five minutes. These guys have felt all year long like we could beat anybody, now I think they know they can. Our team is feeling very confident and I expect us to play very well tomorrow.”

“I don’t know how tomorrow’s game will be against either opponent. Both beat us twice, but I think our guys, whoever we would play, will look forward to it.”

Clayton State’s Tracy Williams
“As we pick up our defense, everybody starts to feel comfortable and come together on offense and we get patient and get good shots. That helps me out a lot. We just try to be more efficient out there, look for great shots and knock them down when we’re open.”

Clayton Stae’s Brian Kelly
“You always have to help your other man out on defense. That’s all we talk about. So, regardless of what we do on offense, we know we have our defense to rely on. That’s what we’ve been relying on the whole tournament.”

GCSU Head Coach Terry Sellers
“I thought the effort was good. Second half, Clayton State came out and took control of the game. When it got down to crunch time, I felt they got three or four key offensive rebounds that really hurt us.”

“Give them some credit. They picked up their defensive intensity and really started giving us some problems and we didn’t handle it as well as we should have. They were putting good pressure on the ball and it wasn’t like we were just throwing it away…they had something to do with it.”

GCSU’s Shaun Keaton
“They did pick up their defensive intensity, but it also seemed like we got a bit lackadaisical sometimes. We weren’t strong with the ball when we should have been.”