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Laker men’s basketball team is “going dancing.”The Lakers officially received their first ever NCAA Division II National Tournament bid late Sunday night, and 25th-ranked Clayton State will be playing in the South Atlantic Regional at Augusta State against a familiar foe. Head coach Gordon Gibbons’s Lakers, who drew the third seed in the Regional, will battle sixth-seeded and South Atlantic Conference regular season champion Catawba in the opening round on Saturday at Augusta State’s Christenberry Fieldhouse. This is the second time this season that the two teams have played each other. Clayton State played in Catawba’s Walt Baker Classic back in early December. The Lakers edged Catawba 76-75 on forward John Beugnot’s 3-point basket with three seconds remaining. While this is the first Division II National Tournament appearance for Clayton State, it’s the seventh NCAA National Tournament for Gibbons. Prior to his arrival at Clayton in 2001, Gibbons helped Florida Southern gain six NCAA Division II National Tournament berths in his 10 seasons there, including two “Elite Eight” appearances and one “Final Four” appearance. In addition to Clayton State’s game against Catawba, the remaining field in the South Atlantic Regional pits top-seeded and Peach Belt Conference champion Augusta State against CIAA Tournament champion and eighth-seeded Elizabeth City State, last years NCAA Division II runner-up second seeded Virginia Union against seventh seeded and Peach Belt Conference Tournament Champion Lander, and fourth-seeded Armstrong Atlantic against fifth-seeded and South Atlantic Conference Tournament champion Wingate. Should Clayton State win, it would meet the Virginia Union/Lander winner in the semifinals. The quarterfinal times for Saturday are 12 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. The Sunday semifinal times and the game time for Tuesday’s championship have yet to be announced. |
