Clayton State men take wild 94-81 triumph over visiting Carver

MORROW, Ga. – November 29, 2011 – The Clayton State Laker men's basketball team found an apparent cure for its recent shooting woes on Tuesday as the Lakers out-lasted visiting Carver 94-81 at the Athletics and Fitness Center.

The victory is the second straight for Clayton State, which improves to 4-1 overall. Carver is now 4-9 overall after playing its fifth NCAA Division II opponent this season.

Clayton State had its best shooting performance yet this season, connecting on 52 percent from the field. In the second half alone, the Lakers shot a sizzlin' 64 percent (21-for-33) from the field. And that was key after an athletic Carver squad stunned Clayton State in the first half, leading 46-43 at halftime.

The Cougars overcame an early 10-point Laker lead and took a 23-18 lead at the 10:08 mark on a lay-up by Demetrius Mack. After one lead-change, Carver increased its lead back to five points 32-27 on a lay-up by Julian Bratton with 5:50 remaining.

Clayton State tied the game on a 3-point basket by Juron Dobbs in the waning seconds, but Carver took the 3-point lead at halftime on a Bernard Parks 3-point basket as time expired.

The Cougars increased their lead to five points again in the early portion of the second half. However, two straight lay-ups by Bradley Tumer put Clayton State ahead for good, 63-61 at the 12:54 mark. A 3-point basket by Teondre Williams stretched the Laker lead to 72-64 at the 9:03 mark.

Clayton State took its first double-digit lead on two Anthony Salter free throws with 6:32 remaining. The Lakers' largest lead of the game was 15 points on three occasions. Williams drained two free throws with 21 seconds remaining to give Clayton State a 94-79 lead.

Williams paced Clayton State again in scoring with 20 points – marking the third game with 20 or more points this season. Tumer scored 16 points off the bench, followed by center Andrew Bachanov with a career-high 15 points and 13 points and seven assists by Salter.

In addition, Juron Dobbs, Tony Dukes and Tyrone Black each added eight points. The Lakers shot 71 percent from the free throw line. Defensively, Clayton State limited Carver to only 37 percent shooting from the field.

For Carver, Nickolas Hood scored 19 points, while Parks scored 14 points. Bratton scored 11 points for the Cougars, while Jevon Moses added 10 points off the bench.

Clayton State concludes the four-game home-stand on Saturday with a 4 p.m. clash against Edward Waters.