MORROW, Ga. – Taking on a team they have not seen in the regular season, Clayton State (3-3, 0-0 PBC) could not overcome a late 16-1 run as Virginia Union (5-2, 0-0 CIAA) pulled out a 71-62 victory in an NCAA Division II men's basketball game on Monday, November 28.
 
Junior guard Dantez Bennamon (Goose Creek, S.C.) led the way with 19 points and was joined by graduate forward Jaumonee Byrd (Douglasville, Ga.) with 13 points and six boards. Redshirt-senior forward Alfonso Davis (Bronx, N.Y.) rounded out the top performers with nine points, five rebounds, five assists and a pair of blocks.
 
The Panthers would waste no time as they jumped out to an early 16-9 lead over the first 4:22 of the game. Over the next 2:37, however, the Lakers would rebound with an 8-0 run to take a narrow 17-16 lead. It would be a brief advantage as VUU would pull back ahead over the next several minutes as they took a 24-19 lead by the 9:19 mark.
 
From there the teams would not be separated by no more than four points until late in the first half. With the Panthers holding a slim 30-28 lead with 3:32 on the clock, they would use a 7-0 burst to extend to a 37-28 margin a minute later. The Lakers would prevent that run from steamrolling but would still find themselves down 42-32 at the half.
 
Coming out of the break, Clayton State found their offense as they opened with 9-2 run to cut the deficit to 44-41 by the 16:59 mark. VUU would respond by pushing their margin to 48-44 less than three minutes later but the Lakers would not go away.
 
Trailing 50-48 they would take a 51-50 lead with 12:03 on the clock as Bennamon drained a corner three on a broken play and would do it again just minutes later. Down 53-51, Bennamon got the ball at the top of the arc with three seconds on the shot clock. He stepped under the charge of a defender and bury another go-ahead triple as the clock expired.
 
That 54-53 lead would last long though as Virginia Union put together a dominating 16-1 run that would propel them to a 69-55 lead with 2:49 to play. From there they would fend off a late 7-0 run by the Lakers that cut it to 69-62 before wrapping up the 71-62 victory.
 
Ray Anderson led the way for VUU with a game-high 25 points while John Mitchell ripped down a game-best 14 rebounds. James Paige added 15 points and eight caroms and Tavon Mealy had 16 points on 8-of-15 shooting. Eric Cheatham chipped in with six assists and three steals to round out the top performers for the Panthers.
 
The Lakers are now off for a week before welcoming Allen to The Loch on Monday, December 5. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
 
NOTES
The only other meeting between the teams came on March 11, 2007 in the second round of the NCAA Division II Tournament … in that game, VUU pulled out a narrow 71-70 victory.