MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – Stepping up and doing things he hadn't so far in his career, redshirt-senior guard Aubrey McRae (Augusta, Ga.) recorded his third straight double-double as Clayton State (2-1, 0-0 PBC) used a late run to fight past Mount Olive (1-2, 0-0 CC) by a 76-68 score in the 53^rd Annual Pickle Classic and an NCAA Division II men's basketball game on Friday, November 16.
 
McRae recorded a game-high 24 points and ripped down 10 boards while going 14-of-16 at the foul line to lead the Lakers. Of the latter, he hit on his first 13 attempts before missing one with 14 seconds to play. Junior guard D'von Moore (Statesboro, Ga.) added a career-high 14 points to go with four assists, three steals and three rebounds.
 
Junior guard Kyle Kincey (Tallahassee, Fla.) finished with 10 points and six caroms and redshirt-senior forward JaCarl Owens (Orlando, Fla.) chipped in with nine points and a thunderous slam in the final seconds. Freshman forward Ricardo Saams, Jr. (Miramar, Fla.) rounded things out with six rebounds, all in the first half, while playing 20 minutes.
 
UMO would stake themselves to an early 11-6 lead over the first 4:29 before Clayton State responded with a 9-4 stretch over the next 2:22 to deadlock at 15-15 with 13:09 on the clock. That would turn into the beginnings of a larger 16-6 run that made it 22-17 by the 10:29 mark.
 
With the lead cut to 24-21 less than three minutes later, it would be another extended run, this time 14-4 with eight of those coming from McRae on a variety of shots, that extended the margin to 39-25 with 2:11 remaining in the frame. Undaunted, the Trojans would close the half strong as they mounted a 9-2 run behind four different scorers to head to the break with the score at 41-34.
 
Following a slow start to the second half, Clayton State found its lead cut to 42-39 before a straight away three by Moore sparked a 5-2 spurt that made it 47-41 by the 13:44 mark. It would be short lived, however, as Mount Olive responded with a 10-2 burst that put them ahead 51-49 with 11:02 to play.
 
McRae would take care of that lead on his own as he yanked down a board and then hit on both free throws after a foul to knot it up at 51-51 just 14 seconds later. Down two after a pair of makes for the Trojans, McRae struck again as he was fouled on a three-pointer and promptly nailed all three to retake the lead at 54-53.
 
From there it would continue to be a back-and-forth affair as the lead changed hands four times and deadlocked another three times, the last of those 61-61 at the 5:36 mark. At that point the Lakers exploded for an 8-0 run, capped off by a triple from McRae with 3:32 left, to make it 69-61.
 
With the score at 70-63 at the 1:59 mark, UMO got back-to-back buckets to cut it to 70-67 and stay within three after each team converted a free throw with 53 seconds left. That would be their last gasp, however, as Clayton State got a layup from Moore and then punctuated the clinching run with a power dunk by Owens with 14 seconds remaining. From there they would go on to close out the hard fought 76-68 victory.
 
Alan Treakle scored a team-high 18 points to pace the Trojans while Michael Brown came away with 11 points, six rebounds, six assists and a pair of steals. Jamaal Matin notched 11 points and seven caroms and Cameron Robinson, Don Pigford and Jonathan Mebane each had eight points. Tanner Poole anchored the defense with four blocks to go with seven boards.
 
The Lakers return to action tomorrow when they take on an undefeated Barton (4-0, 0-0 CC) squad in their final game at the 53^rd Annual Pickle Classic. Game time is set for 5 p.m. in Mount Olive, North Carolina.
 
NOTES
The game was the first meeting between the schools in program history … that will also be the case as Clayton State faces the Bulldogs of Barton to close out their trip to Mount Olive … prior to this season, McRae had not had a double-double, with his previous career-high for rebounds being seven.