MORROW, Ga. – For the fifth straight year, throughout the summer, the Clayton State Sports Information Office is counting down the Top-10 stories of the year following an impressive 2018-19 campaign.
Today, we release the No. 9 story of the season – Men's Basketball Garners Record-Setting Honors. Make sure to check
www.ClaytonStateSports.com every Friday to catch the latest release.
Story No. 9: Men's Basketball Garners Record-Setting Honors
Facing one of the toughest schedules in the Southeast Region, Clayton State men's basketball may not have finished where they aimed to at the beginning of the year but the Lakers delivered a number of program firsts during the 2018-19 season.
Those started right away as they entered the year
ranked No. 20 in the Division II Bulletin Preseason Poll on October 10. That same day senior
Jaylen Taylor (Hephzibah, Ga.) was named a
DII Bulletin Preseason All-American Honorable Mention, becoming the first individual to earn that honor in program history.
The recognition would continue for Taylor later that month as he became just the third Laker to be named to the
All-Peach Belt Conference Preseason Team. Just days later the program would be
picked to finish second in the PBC Preseason Poll and
nearly upset Division I Kennesaw State in an exhibition.
After delivering a
buzzer-beating 75-74 win at a strong Lenoir-Rhyne (12/12) team and posting a
near miss at No. 7/10 USC Aiken (1/19), Clayton State would make a run at the program offensive record books against Young Harris (2/6).
In that game they would notch a
121-115 victory, marking the fourth most points in a game in program history and the most ever against a fellow Division II school. It would also be a contest that would see
Taylor equal the team record for made field goals with 17 (17-of-19) as he hit his first 13 attempts and finished with 36 points, just four shy of the school record.
Relive the whole broadcast as called by Mitch Evans and Bill Schindler.
That would also be the week that would begin a historic stretch of PBC honors as redshirt-senior
Aubrey McRae (Augusta, Ga.) collected the
first of back-to-back Player of the Week recognitions. His second on February 11 marked the
first time that the Lakers had picked up the award in consecutive weeks.
There would be one more program record to come as junior
Kyle Kincey (Tallahassee, Fla.) would pick up his first PBC Player of the Week recognition on March 4. That set the
program record for most such awards in a season at three. By comparison, the Lakers claimed back-to-back regular season championships in each of the past two seasons and were not recognized once in that time.
The Schedule
Every Friday throughout the Summer and leading up to the 2019-20 preseason, the SID Office will release the list one at a time beginning with the No. 10 story on June 7. The No. 1 story in Clayton State Athletics, as chosen by the Sports Information Office, will be released on Friday, August 9.
Countdown to the Top-10 Clayton State Athletics Stories from 2018-19
No. 1 – Coming August 9
No. 2 – Coming August 2
No. 3 – Coming July 26
No. 4 – Coming July 19
No. 5 – Coming July 12
No. 6 – Coming July 5
No. 7 – Coming June 28
No. 8 – Coming June 21
No. 9 – Men's Basketball Garners Record-Setting Honors (June 14)
No. 10 – Men's Soccer's Late Run and Individual Accomplishments (June 7)
Honorable Mention (May 31)
