MORROW, Ga. – For the first time in the history of either basketball program, No. 25 Clayton State (22-5, 19-3 PBC) has earned the right to host the Peach Belt Conference Tournament following an 89-83 quarterfinal victory over No. 8 seed Columbus State (9-17, 9-13 PBC) in an NCAA Division II men's basketball game on Wednesday, February 28. The victory is the program's 13^th straight.
 
Since becoming a full-fledged member of the PBC during the 1997-98 season, neither the men's or women's program has hosted the league's championship tournament. The Lakers will face No. 5 seed USC Aiken while No. 3 seed Francis Marion takes on No. 2 seed UNC Pembroke. Each of those games will be on Saturday, March 3 with the championship game between the winners on Sunday, March 4.
 
Redshirt-junior guard Aubrey McRae (Augusta, Ga.) led the way with a team-high 19 points to go with six boards while senior guard Nathan Powell (Orlando, Fla.) finished with 18 points, four assists and four boards in 28 minutes. More impressively, not only did he score all of his points in the second half, but Powell did so from the 13:31 mark on.
 
Redshirt-junior forward JaCarl Owens (Orlando, Fla.) wasn't far behind with 16 points, eight rebounds and an array of thunderous dunks. He was joined by junior guard Justin Tuckson (Stafford, Va.) with 11 points, junior forward Jaylen Taylor (Hephzibah, Ga.) with nine points and five caroms and sophomore guard Kyle Kincey (Tallahassee, Fla.) with seven points, five boards and a pair of steals.
 
Clayton State quickly jumped out to a 15-7 lead by the 14:34 mark before the Cougars answered back with a 9-3 stretch to close to 18-16 two and a half minutes later. It would remain a nip-and-tuck affair as that lead would not go above six, the last of those coming at 29-23 with 6:24 left in the half.
 
From there, Columbus State would come storming back as they put together a 9-2 run to take a narrow 32-31 lead less than three minutes later. It would be short lived as the Lakers came right back, pulling ahead 38-34, before a 7-2 burst by the Cougars gave them a slim 41-40 margin heading to the break.
 
That would go from slim to a seven point spread, 51-44, three minutes into the second half before Tuckson took over, scoring seven straight points to knot it at 51-51 by the 15:06 mark. Over the next 3:25 the lead would changes hands six times and the clubs deadlocked on a pair of occasions before Clayton State pulled ahead 60-59 with 11:41 on the clock.
 
The latter came on a huge three from Kincey and ignited a 14-2 outburst that vaulted the Lakers to a 71-61 lead with 7:09 to play. That margin would grow to a 12 point spread, 79-67, with 3:37 remaining but the Cougars would not go away.
 
In that short amount of time they clawed their way to within 86-82 with 25 seconds to play before Clayton State extinguished any hopes of a comeback with three free throws down the stretch, locking up the 89-83 victory. The win is their first in the PBC Tournament since a 77-66 victory over Georgia College on March 3, 2010.

Jacori Payne led all scorers with 28 points on 8-of-18 shooting from the field, including 5-of-9 from beyond the arc and a perfect 7-of-7 at the foul line. Darius Joell finished with 16 points, six boards and four assists in 34 minutes and Rudy Winters had 17 points. Vic Ellis and Jesse Deloach chipped in with 10 and seven points, respectively.
 
The Lakers will host No. 5 seed USC Aiken at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 3 in the PBC Tournament Semifinals. That game will be directly followed by the second semifinal between Francis Marion and UNC Pembroke at approximately 5:30 p.m. All games will be played on campus at The Loch with ticket prices to be announced in the near future.
 
NOTES
The meeting between Clayton State and Columbus State was the second in as many games, marking the first time in the series history … the Lakers clinched their second straight PBC Regular Season Championship on Saturday, February 24 with an 84-67 victory over the Cougars … the 13 game win streak is the second longest in program history, trailing only the 17 won by the 2006-07 squad at the beginning of that season.