MORROW, Ga. – Senior guard Saiquan Terry (Manchester, Ga.) drained five threes and finished with a team-high 21 points to lead Clayton State (4-1, 0-0 PBC) to an 85-73 victory at Erskine (4-3, 2-0 CC) in an NCAA Division II men's basketball game on Saturday, December 5.
 
Along with Terry's 21 points, four rebounds and three assists, sophomore guard Nathan Powell (Orlando, Fla.) delivered a well-rounded 15 points, six boards and four assists in 19 minutes. Sophomore guard Dantez Bennamon (Goose Creek, S.C.) finished with 12 points, five rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals while junior forward Alfonso Davis (Bronx, N.Y.) added 12 points, six boards and four blocks in 23 minutes.
 
Back-to-back triples by Terry helped the Lakers get off to a strong start as they jumped out to an 8-2 lead just 2:26 in. Over the next six and a half minutes they would extend their lead to 20-10 by the 11:08 mark before the Flying Fleet closed to within 22-15 with 9:32 left in the half. Holding an eight point advantage, 29-21, at the 4:14 mark, Clayton State extended to a 36-24 margin behind a 7-3 stretch before heading into the break with a 38-26 lead.
 
Following that brief run by Erskine to cut into the deficit, the Lakers exploded for a 7-0 run to make it 45-26 just minutes into the second half. While the lead would remain at double-digits, the Flying Fleet would cut into it considerably with a 14-6 stretch to narrow the gap to 51-40 by the 14:28 mark.
 
Another 8-0 burst then quelled any thoughts of them pulling ahead as the lead ballooned back to 19 points at 59-40 with 11:24 to play. Still, that didn't stop EC from maintaining the offensive pressure as they eventually got the deficit down to 10 points, 74-64, with 1:56 to go.
 
A jumper by sophomore guard TJ Johnson (Savannah, Ga.) then made it a 12-point margin and cooled the Flying Fleet's hot streak enough that they could not capitalize on getting under double-digits in the final minutes. From there, Clayton State polished off the 85-73 victory to improve to 4-1 on the year.
 
Joby Glymph led all scorers with 26 points and added eight rebounds for Erskine while Andy Zagorac finished with 12 points. Thomas Nolan, Jr. and Ray Lock each added 10 points and Brannon Dark had four points and seven rebounds to round out the top performers.
 
The Lakers will be right back in action on Monday, December 7 as they host Trevecca Nazarene on Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day. That game is slated for a special tip time of 3 p.m. at The Loch.