MORROW, Ga. --- DECEMBER 30, 2006 --- Never before has the Clayton State Laker men’s basketball gotten off to such a fast start to a season as it has in 2006-07. The winning continued on Saturday night.

Connecting on a whopping 13 3-point baskets and playing some stifling defense, Clayton State rolled past visiting Edward Waters 84-35 in the Heritage Bank Holiday Classic at the Athletics and Fitness Center. The Lakers, the second-ranked team in the nation in Division II, are now 10-0 for the first time in program history.

The 35 points allowed was the second-fewest points allowed by a Clayton State team, next to 29 points the Lakers allowed to Allen in the 1998-99 season. In addition, the 49-point rout was the largest margin of victory by Clayton State since last season’s 56-point rout in the season opener against Tuskegee.

“When you get in a streak like this, you don’t think about it until you see the record on the stat sheet,” said Clayton State head coach Gordon Gibbons. “As you build your schedule, you want your team to get better in non-conference games, and we’ve done that. Tonight, we jumped on a good Edward Waters team from the start and I was very surprised.”

Jumped on them was an understatement. The Lakers connected on seven of their first eight shots in the first six minutes to take a 20-4 lead. Four of those baskets were 3-point baskets, including two by Michael Sloan. The Lakers twice increased the lead to 28 points, including a 3-point basket by Luis Rodriguez at the 3:47 mark.

John Beugnot’s 3-point basket with 2:02 remaining gave Clayton State its largest lead of the first half, 43-13.

Clayton State connected on seven 2-point baskets in the first half and held Edward Waters to only seven field goals. In addition, the Lakers controlled the glass, out-rebounding an aggressive Tiger squad 23-9.

“I thought Edward Waters was all over the boards in previous games,” Gibbons said. “We really played exceptional defense early against them and finished it off with rebounding. And coming out of the gate shooting like that, we can put a hurting on people.”

The intensity didn’t let up. Clayton State opened the second half on a 13-2 run as Sloan connected twice from 3-point range and Beugnot connected once. Edward Waters never got closer than 36 points in the second half.

A 3-point basket by reserve guard Trey Goss gave the Lakers a 50-point lead, 82-32 with 2:33 remaining.

Sloan paced Clayton State with 19 points on 5-for-8 shooting from 3-point range, while Todd McLaurin had another tremendous game off the bench with 14 points. Beugnot added 10 points, while center Aristide Sawadogo grabbed 13 rebounds. As a team, Clayton State dominated Edward Waters on the glass 42-24. This was the same Edward Waters team that grabbed 45 rebounds, including 16 offensive rebounds, on Thursday against Texas-Permian Basin.

For Edward Waters (5-8), Ozzie Henderson scored 11 points and Ulysses Bain scored 10 points. The Tigers managed only 30 percent shooting from the field, including only seven percent from 3-point range.

Clayton State plays its final non-conference game of the season on Sunday at 3 p.m. against Arkansas-Monticello in the Heritage Bank Holiday Classic.