MORROW, Ga. – Trailing for much of the second half, Clayton State (2-10, 0-5 PBC) battled all the way back with a late, frenetic rally but could not complete the trick as they fell 102-93 to Peach Belt Conference leading USC Aiken (10-6, 6-0 PBC) in an NCAA Division II men's basketball game on Saturday, January 11.
 
Redshirt-sophomore Bryan Hart (Hampton, Va.) dropped a career-high 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting and redshirt-junior center Tionne Williams, Jr. (Phenix City, Ala.) recorded his first career double-double with 14 points and a career-best 11 rebounds to pace the Lakers.
 
Not to be outdone, senior guard Kyle Kincey (Tallahassee, Fla.) finished with 20 points, five assists, five caroms and a pair of steals and sophomore forward Ricardo Saams, Jr. (Miramar, Fla.) added 17 points and six rebounds in 33 minutes.
 
The Pacers would take an early 9-4 lead over the first 3:34 before Clayton State rallied to knot it at 9-9 by the 16:12 mark. From there the clubs would be separated by no more than four points and a 6-0 burst would take the Lakers from down 17-14 to up 20-17 with 11:58 showing on the clock.
 
With Clayton State holding a 24-21 advantage at the midway point of the opening half a brief 4-0 burst put USCA up by one and ignited a series of three lead changes and a tie that would see the Pacers up 29-27 at the 8:02 mark.
 
Starting from down 27-25 as part of that flurry, USC Aiken would mount a massive 21-6 run fueled by eight points from Damontez Oliver and seven from Dhieu Deing that put them up 46-33 with 3:57 on the clock. That, however, would not be a knock out blow as the Lakers rallied with an 11-2 run with five points from Abrams and Kincey to close the half down just 48-44.
 
They would continue to continue to keep it close, trailing 58-54 with 4:23 gone by in the second half, before the Pacers scored eight of the next 10 points to extend to a 66-56 margin at 13:41. The Lakers would continue to show their resiliency as they bounced back with a 9-2 run to make it 68-65 less than three minutes later but would soon find themselves down 76-69 at the 8:55 mark.
 
Once again down but not out, Clayton State got six points from Hart to fuel a 15-7 run in a span of 4:30 that flipped the script and brought them all the way back with an 84-83 lead with 4:07 to play. USCA would come right back and retake the lead, eventually at 88-84, before another rapid fire series of events brought the Lakers back.
 
The last of straight four points to tie it up would come in the form of a reverse alley-oop dunk by Saams, Jr.at 2:34 before Deing knocked down a go-ahead triple only to see it matched at the other end by the tallest player on the floor, Williams, Jr. That flurry left the teams tied at 91-91 but it would be the last hurrah for the Lakers as USC Aiken scored the next 11 points to put the finishing touches on the 102-93 victory.
 
Deing led the way for the Pacers with a game-high 28 points on 10-of-13 shooting, six of those coming from beyond the arc, while Gus Rowland notched a double-double the hard way, recording 13 points and 10 assists to go with three steals. Faison Brock dropped 21 points with six assists and three steals and Oliver had 15 points. Shaquan Jules added 12 points and six caroms and Robert Hill chipped in with six points and eight rebounds.
 
The Lakers now hit the road for the first of three straight away from home, beginning at Georgia Southwestern on Wednesday, January 15. Game time is slated for approximately 7:30 p.m. following the women's contest against the Hurricanes.

FULL GAME VIDEO