MORROW, Ga. – Clayton State (5-3, 3-1 PBC) vaulted into a first place tie in the Peach Belt Conference as they downed previous league unbeaten Augusta (6-4, 3-1 PBC) 87-76 in an NCAA Division II men's basketball game on Saturday, December 30.
 
Redshirt-junior guard Aubrey McRae (Augusta, Ga.) lit it up with a career-high 25 points on a near record 6-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc while senior forward Denzel Council (Macon, Ga.) notched a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Senior guard Nathan Powell (Orlando, Fla.) helped fuel the offense with 16 points and eight assists while grabbing six boards and junior forward Jaylen Taylor (Hephzibah, Ga.) finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. Senior guard Dantez Bennamon (Goose Creek, S.C.) came away with nine points, three assists and three rebounds and junior forward Jamil McKee (Greenville, Ga.) added eight points to round things out.
 
In a tightly contested first half, the teams would be separated by no more than four points over the first 10:35 of play. In that time they would see the lead change hands seven times and deadlock on five occasions before Augusta took a 24-20 lead.
 
The Lakers would battle back to take a 30-28 advantage by the 6:59 mark, and following a tying jumper by Deane Williams, erupted for a 13-4 run that left them with a 43-34 lead with 2:06 on the clock. Augusta responded with five straight points to cut it to 43-39 before heading to the half with the score at 47-41.
 
In the first minute of the second half the Jaguars cut it to three and eventually closed to within 52-50 by the 15:06 mark. Six straight points, including a rare four-point play by McRae, then extended that narrow lead to 58-50 with 14:20 remaining.
 
The margin would grow to 61-52 before Augusta surged back to within one, 65-64, behind a 12-4 run that culminated at the 9:12 mark. A put back dunk by Council would then highlight a 7-2 stretch that made it 72-66 just under three minutes later before the Jaguars answered with five of the next seven to cut it to 74-71 with 5:21 to play.
 
That would be as close as they would get, however, as a straight away three by Bennamon ignited a 13-3 run that made it 87-74 and put the game away. A pair of free throws by Augusta would then take it to the final 11-point margin.
 
Tyvez Monroe led Augusta with 18 points, five boards and four assists in 36 minutes while Tamyrik Fields finished with 16 points and eight rebounds. Leading scorer and rebounder Deane Williams added just 10 points, six rebounds and a pair of blocks and Aaron chipped in with 11 points and five caroms. Mikkel Kostad rounded things out with 13 points on 8-of-8 shooting from the foul line.
 
The Lakers returns to action in the New Year when they host Young Harris (3-8, 2-3) on Wednesday, January 3. Game time is set for approximately 7:30 p.m. following the women's contest.
 
NOTES
The victory is the first over Augusta at The Loch since February 5, 2014 … that day the Lakers earned a 71-67 victory … McRae's previous career-high was 21 points set at LeMoyne-Owen on November 20, 2017 … his six three pointers were one shy of tying the program single game record of seven set twice by Saiquan Terry (2/18/15 vs. Georgia College, 1/10/15 vs. North Georgia) and Torrin Greene (11/19/10 vs. Knoxville) … Bennamon enters 2018 needing just 14 points to become just the seventh Laker to score 1,000 points in a career.