Fourth-ranked Lakers return home to face in-state rival West Georgia
Clayton State renews rivalry with Wolves after one-year hiatus

MORROW, Ga. --- DECEMBER 5, 2006 --- Upon arriving at Clayton State as men’s head basketball coach prior to the 2001-02 season, Gordon Gibbons learned quickly about the competitiveness and intensity in arguably the Lakers’ top non-conference rival – West Georgia.

The Lakers fell at West Georgia 99-83 in Gibbons’ second game as Clayton State head coach, and that started what has become not only a fun non-conference rivalry between two neighboring in-state Division II programs, but also pitting two of the more colorful head coaches at the Division II level. Every time these two teams have played since, it’s turned into a chess match between Gibbons and his West Georgia counterpart – Ed Murphy.

Those two head coaches will match wits again on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. when Clayton State plays host to West Georgia at the Athletics and Fitness Center. Clayton State enters the game undefeated at 4-0 and ranked fourth in the nation in the recent NABC Division II Top 25 Coach’s Poll, while West Georgia is 4-3.

“A rivalry is only a rivalry if it’s competitive, and this has evolved into a great non-conference rivalry,” said Gibbons, who is 2-6 against West Georgia while at Clayton State. “I personally love big games, and West Georgia is a big game. When the two teams face each other, it’s usually a match-up between two of the top Division II programs in the Southeast.”

There’s plenty of experience between Gibbons and Murphy. In his 16 seasons at both Clayton State and Florida Southern, Gibbons is 347-112, while Murphy is 484-297 in 27 seasons at West Georgia, Delta State and West Alabama at the Division II level, not to mention Division I Ole Miss of the Southeastern Conference.

That puts both coaches in the Top 15 in Division II history for victories for both active and all-time head coaches.

“In coaching, you enjoy the competition against the best, and he (Murphy) is one of the best,” Gibbons said. “He’s such an interesting character that’s very opinionated on a lot of things. It’s always fun to play a coach that has a certain way of playing.”

What Gibbons and Lakers will face is a West Georgia team that will play vintage Ed Murphy basketball. The Wolves will constantly play man-to-man defense and mix the five-man motion on offense.

This has been somewhat of a “reloading season” for Murphy as he has had to replace four starters from a team that finished 19-10 last season. The Wolves are led in scoring by junior guard Terrance Hundley, who enters tonight’s game averaging 18 points a game and shoots 44 percent from 3-point range. In addition, junior guard Hendrick Foster is averaging 13 points a game and senior guard Travis Hall, a transfer from Southern Mississippi, is averaging 12 points a game.

“They are pretty balanced, which is typical Murph,” Gibbons said. “He’s always rotating eight players in the motion offense. Hundley and Foster have proven effective in Ed’s system.”

Gibbons and Clayton State will counter with an experienced and deep team that’s carried the Lakers early in the season. The Clayton State backcourt of senior Brandon Kelley and junior Michael Sloan are averaging 15 and 12 points a game, respectively, while senior forward John Beugnot is averaging 11 points a game. In addition, junior center Jerome Boyd has been a big surprise off the bench, averaging 11 points and he’s a whopping 68 percent from the field. It was Beugnot that kept Clayton State undefeated with a big 3-point basket with three seconds remaining in the Lakers’ 76-75 victory at Catawba on Saturday.

“We were preseason ranked, and now we are ranked based on our record,” Gibbons said. “Your team has to get ready to play each night, and this team has the understanding that West Georgia will be the best team that we have played yet.”