MORROW, Ga. – A 52 point first half and a barrage of three-pointers set the tone for the night as Clayton State (9-16, 6-13 PBC) throttled North Georgia (10-15, 5-14 PBC) in an NCAA Division II men's basketball game on Wednesday, February 20.
 
Senior forward Jaylen Taylor (Hephzibah, Ga.) put up a game-high 19 points while junior guard Kyle Kincey (Tallahassee, Fla.) did a bit of everything with 13 points, career-high five steals, five assists and six rebounds in 27 minutes.
 
They were joined by redshirt-senior guard Aubrey McRae (Augusta, Ga.) with 11 points and nine boards and freshman forward Ricardo Saams, Jr. (Miramar, Fla.) with 11 points and seven caroms. Freshman guard Savvon Delgado (Atlanta, Ga.) and junior guard Christoff Nairn (West Palm Beach, Fla.) added 11 and 10 points, respectively, while junior guard D'von Moore (Statesboro, Ga.) had six points, four assists and three rebounds.
 
The night opened with a flurry as the lead changed hands seven times, including on five straight possessions, over the first 3:46. The last of those came with UNG leading 9-8 and would ignite a 15-2 run that ended any other lead changes the rest of the night, putting Clayton State up 23-11 by the 12:24 mark. That run would feature six points from Tuckson off back-to-back triples.
 
Following a pair of Nighthawk layups that cut it to an eight point deficit near the midway point, the Lakers erupted for a 17-3 stretch behind the force of four straight three-pointers, with two each from Delgado and Moore.
 
While that entire offensive outburst took 4:08 and pushed the score to a whopping 40-18 by the 4:08 mark, the most impressive part was that the four long balls all came within a span of 1:13 and expanded the lead by 12 points in the blink of an eye. The first of those came when Moore saved a ball underneath UNG's basket and then proceeded to rifle it half the distance to a waiting Delgado while falling out of bounds.
 
From there, there would be no serious challenge from the Nighthawks as Clayton State powered to a 50-28 advantage at the half. In the second half they would see their lead grow to 24 on three occasions, the last at 80-56 with 5:35 to play. North Georgia would put up a fight down the stretch but could only come within the final margin of 89-72.
 
Lanre Olatunji led the UNG with 12 points and eight boards while De'Undra Singleton had 10 points as the only other Nighthawk in double-digits. Shawn Hopkins and Zach Cottrell each chipped in with eight and Ephraim Tshimanga finished with five points, eight rebounds and three assists. Jack Howard rounded things out with seven points.
 
The Lakers hit the road as they travel to rival UNC Pembroke on Saturday, February 23. Game time is slated for 1:30 p.m. in Pembroke, North Carolina.
 
NOTES
At halftime, 14 Springs Sports seniors were recognized … from women's track & field it was Ariel Boyd-Ghani, Carla Catala Martin, Lynnet Kosgei, Destiny Johnson, Laura Shkembi and Sierra Glenn … for men's track & field, Ryan Polk, Andrew Omoregbe, Evan Ortiz, Eric Wells-Shiver, Alex Phillips and T.J. Witherspoon … men's golf rounded out the festivities with Andres Caballero and Fran Hernandez … each was presented with a 12x15 cherry wood plaque with a custom action shot from their career pictured.
 

Spring Sports Senior Night (2/20/19)

 

North Georgia at Clayton State (2/20/19)

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