Boxscore BOCA RATON, Fla. – In what was a back-and-forth affair all night long, Clayton State (2-4, 0-0 PBC) saw their late second half rally come up just short as they fell by a 92-85 score at Lynn (4-0, 0-0 SSC) in an NCAA Division II men's basketball game on Friday, November 29.
 
Redshirt-sophomore Bryan Hart (Hampton, Va.) equaled his career-high with 20 points behind five three-pointers to go with four caroms and redshirt-junior center Tionne Williams, Jr. (Phenix City, Ala.) had his best game as a Laker with 19 points, eight boards and a pair of blocks.
 
Sophomore forward Ricardo Saams, Jr. (Miramar, Fla.) ripped down 10 rebounds, four off the offensive glass, and added three steals and senior guard Kyle Kincey (Tallahassee, Fla.) fueled another late run, finishing with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Freshman forward Mehdi Pissis (Sartrouville, France) had nine points, including a key three late, to go with a career-best five assists and junior forward John Mason (Avon Park, Fla.) rounded things out with nine points.
 
Clayton State would come out on fire as they exploded for a 10-2 lead over the first 2:52 before Lynn used a 14-4 stretch to flip the script and take a 16-14 lead at the 14:27 mark. Over the next 4:29 the teams would deadlock once and see the lead change hands six times before ending up at 26-25 in favor the Fighting Knights.
 
While they would maintain that lead it would not go beyond four points and would get cut to just one on a pair of occasions, the last being 37-36 with 6:16 on the clock. At that point hey would use a 9-3 run to power out to their largest lead, seven points, at 46-39 by the 3:32 mark.
 
The Lakers defense would then lock down as Lynn would not be allowed another point the rest of the frame and would see the lead cut to 46-44 at the break.
 
That game of back-and-forth would continue over the first four-plus minutes of the second half as the clubs traded the lead six more times, the last coming on a 8-0 LU run that put them up 59-52 by the 13:01 mark. Despite being cut to three at one point, that deficit would grow to a game-high 13 points, 82-69, with 5:05 left.
 
Clayton State would not be done, however as they mounted a 13-4 run fueled by eight points from Kincey to pull all the way to within 86-82 by the 1:32 mark. Trailing by six following a pair of Lynn free throws, Pisses drained a triple from the left wing to cut it to three with 44 seconds left.
 
An offensive put back off of an errant floater at the other end would then make it a five point margin with just nine seconds on the clock. A missed three by the Lakers and a pair of Fighting Knight free throws would then be all she wrote as LU escaped with the 92-85 victory.
 
Jordan Allen exploded for a game-high 37 points on 13-of-19 shooting to lead Lynn while Christian Peevy finished with a mere 17 points and nine rebounds. They were joined by Darius Moore with 10 points and four assists and Branden Ellis with 11 points, four rebounds and a rim rattling dunk late. Cameron Gaines added seven points and as many rebounds to go with three blocks in 37 minutes.
 
The Lakers return to action tomorrow as they travel to No. 2/2 Nova Southeastern (3-0, 1-0 SSC). Game time is set for 4 p.m.
 
NOTES
Hart and Williams were teammates at Division II power Lincoln Memorial for the past three seasons … both transferred to Clayton State this season … Nova Southeastern enters tomorrow's game ranked No. 2 in the nation in both the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the D2SIDA national polls.