Clayton State men’s basketball officially starts preseason practice on Saturday

MORROW, Ga. – October 15, 2011 – After nearly two months of preseason conditioning and individual workouts in leading up to this moment, the Clayton State Laker men's basketball officially hit the floor on Saturday for the first practice for the 2011-12 season.

Head coach Gordon Gibbons, entering his 11th season at the Laker helm, put the Lakers through a tough two-and-half-hour workout at the Athletics and Fitness Center. The Lakers focused on defensive fundamentals, conditioning and getting an early start on offensive sets. In addition, the Lakers also worked on general fundamentals such as ball-handling and passing drills.

Clayton State returns two starters and five players off last season's squad which finished 19-10 overall and 10-7 in the Peach Belt Conference. The two starters are senior forward Torrin Greene and junior wing Juron Dobbs. Also back and looking to start at center this season is junior Andrew Bachanov.

Gibbons has brought in a stellar recruiting class that is raising some eyebrows around the Peach Belt this preseason. The most notable is three Division I transfers – guards Anthony Salter (Hawaii), Tony Dukes (USC Upstate) and Teandre Williams (Oregon). Also new to the Laker fold this season is senior point guard Bradley Tumer, a transfer from Division II Carson-Newman who finished fourth in the nation last season in assists.

From the junior college ranks, Clayton State has added All-American guard Reco Lewis from Waycross. Lewis led the nation in steals last season at the JUCO level. Also new from the junior college level are posts Tim Budd (Spartanburg Methodist) and Tyrone Black (Iowa Western Community College).

Clayton State opens the regular season at home on Nov. 14 against Tennessee Temple.