PBC Tournament - Strong Second Half Propels Clayton State Past GSW
AIKEN, S.C. - Reigning PBC Tournament champion Clayton State
took its first step to defending its title with a 63-48 victory
over tournament newcomer Georgia Southwestern State on Wednesday
evening in first-round action of the 2009 Peach Belt Conference
Men’s Basketball Championship.
The Lakers (15-13) advance to the PBC Quarterfinals where they
will face host and No. 2 seed USC Aiken on Friday, March 6, at 7:00
p.m. Georgia Southwestern State sees its season end with a 10-18
record.
Clayton State opened up a four-point lead at halftime, 33-29,
thanks to a pressure defense that forced 12 turnovers by the
Hurricanes. Brian Kelly made 6-of-8 shots in the first half for 12
points to lead the Lakers, while Georgia Southwestern State kept
things close by making 6-of-10 three-pointers in the first
period.
The Lakers scored the first five points of the second half on a
Bernard Fields layup and a Ricky Garrett three-pointer to stretch
that lead out to nine, but back-to-back three-pointers by Evan
Mobley and Anthony Sargent cut the Clayton State advantage to
three, 38-35, with 15:53 left.
A Trey Goss three-pointer made the lead two possessions again,
where it stayed until a breakaway dunk by Ricky Garrett extended
the Laker lead to eight, 53-45, with 6:21 left. Georgia
Southwestern State made just one basket over the final six minutes,
allowing the Lakers to pull away for the victory.
Kelly finished the night with a game-high 19 points for the
Lakers, while Jaquas Dobbs and Will Lewis each added 12 points. The
Lakers forced 22 turnovers in the game and registered 12
steals.
Georgia Southwestern State was led by PBC Freshman of the Year
Evan Mobley’s 13 points and Anthony Sargent’s 11
points. The Hurricanes hit 9-of-27 three-pointers and shot just one
free throw in the contest.
PBC Tournament – Game 4 – Clayton State vs.
Georgia Southwestern
GSW Coach Mike
Leeder
“We’re very honored to be here in our first chance to
qualify for the conference tournament. This was just a baby step
for our program and hopefully we can come back here next year and
with a little bit of luck and some good recruiting maybe we can
find a way to get a win. Its going to take a little bit of time,
but we’re heading in the right direction.”
“We didn’t shoot the ball well and we turned the ball
over too much in both haves. We didn’t get to the foul line,
we didn’t drive the ball like we usually do.”
GSW senior guard Anthony
Sargent
On reaching the PBC Tournament. “That means a lot,
especially for a program that’s just coming into the
tournament. We are still really proud of each other as a team even
though we didn’t get a win in the tournament. Making the
tournament in our first year, not too many teams do
that.”
Clayton State head coach
Gordon Gibbons
“GSW is a very good offensive team and they match up well
with us. Out goal tonight was to play what Clayton State is: a
defensive team. I thought our defense really took over and our guys
played well together.”
“Even though we haven’t had a season that has gone as
well as we would like, we have stayed together and we’re
playing our best basketball right now.”
“This team has come together differently than last
year’s team, but the parallel is that we’re playing our
best now.”
On facing USC Aiken “We feel like we’ll be
ready to go out there and defend and it will be an extremely
physical game.”
Clayton State’s
Brian Kelly
“We’re really confident. We had the experience from
last year and we basically have the same team back, so we know what
to expect.”
On facing USC Aiken “Its just like every game, really: we
focus on our defense.”
Clayton State’s
Bernard Fields
“You have to forget about the regular season. This is a new
season, everybody is 0-0.”