MORROW, Ga. – Senior guard Dantez Bennamon (Goose Creek, S.C.) became just the seventh player to score 1,000 points over the course of his career as Clayton State (6-3, 4-1 PBC) remained in a first place tie following a 94-75 victory over Young Harris (3-9, 2-4 PBC) in an NCAA Division II men's basketball game on Wednesday, January 3.
 
Bennamon finished with 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting along with a career-high tying four steals to lead the Lakers. With 19:04 on the clock in the second half he drove to the basket in front of the home bench, laying it up and in before being fouled and converting a three-point play to surpass the 1,000^th point plateau.
 
He becomes just the seventh men's basketball player to accomplish that feat, joining Carlos Head (1,682 - 1990-94), Michael Sloan (1,261 – 2004-08), Charlie Frazier, Jr. (1,243 – 1998-2002), Robert Conley (1,219 – 1997-99), Craig Butts (1,211 – 2002-05) and Keith Herring (1,092 – 1991-94). Of that group, all but Sloan and Butts are already inductees into the Clayton State Athletics Hall of Fame.
 
He was joined by senior forward Denzel Council (Macon, Ga.) with a double-double of 18 points and 10 boards along with three blocks while junior forward Jaylen Taylor (Hephzibah, Ga.) just missed one of his own with 10 points and nine caroms. Junior guard Justin Tuckson (Stafford, Va.) lit it up with a career-high 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting and senior guard Nathan Powell (Orlando, Fla.) had 17 points, five assists and a pair of steals.
 
Young Harris would take a brief 4-1 lead in the opening minutes before the Lakers got their feet under them and pulled ahead 12-7 with just five minutes gone by. After the Mountain Lions cut it to 12-10 it would be a 9-2 run by Clayton State that would propel them to a 21-14 advantage by the 11:02 mark.
 
It would not stay that way long, however, as YHC narrowed the gap to 23-20 less than three minutes later. The Lakers would answer back with another 9-2 stretch, this time to push to a 32-22 margin with 6:25 on the clock before closing the half with a 42-33 lead.
 
In the second half, that margin would fluctuate between four and 10 points before a three by Council made it 62-49 at the 10:25 mark. From there, the closest the Mountain Lions would come would be nine points, four times, with the last coming at 72-63 and 6:43 remaining. A 16-6 run would then put things out of reach at 88-69 before the Lakers wrapped up the convincing 94-75 victory.
 
Corey Nelson erupted for a game-high 28 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field and a perfect 10-of-10 effort at the foul line along with eight boards to pace Young Harris. He was joined by Nicksen Blanc with 15 points, 12 rebounds, eight offensive, and a pair of steals while Ben Waterhouse finished with 12 points, seven caroms, three assists and two steals. J.B. Charles rounded things out with 11 points.
 
The Lakers return to action on Saturday, January 6 when they travel to Francis Marion. Game time is slated for approximately 3:30 p.m. following the women's contest.
 
NOTES
As a team, Clayton State shot 85-percent from the foul line, going 17-of-20 on the night … in the second half they were a perfect 11-of-11 ... Bennamon now has 1,008 points for his career.