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back from last weekend’s exhibition defeat at Georgia with an
impressive 89-49 rout over visiting Martinique Golden Star in the
Lakers’ final preseason exhibition game at the Athletics and Fitness
Center.
The 2007-08 season starts for real for Clayton State next Saturday (Nov. 17) when the Lakers play host to Tennessee Temple at the Athletics and Fitness Center. Meanwhile, the fans in attendance got a good glimpse of what could be a strong 2007-08 season for Clayton State as 12 players saw action for head coach Gordon Gibbons and six reached double-figures in scoring. The Lakers used their signature pressure defense most of the game, rattling the Golden into a whopping 35 turnovers and recording 20 steals. The Golden Star kept the game within single digits for the first eight minutes before Clayton State broke it open with an 11-0 run midway through the first half. Michael Sloan drained a 3-point basket to give the Lakers a 25-12 lead with 11:52 remaining, followed by a 3-point play by Tracy Williams, increasing the Clayton State lead to 30-12 at the 10:32 mark. A breakaway dunk by Sloan gave the Lakers their largest lead of the first half at 26 points, 50-24 with 1:22 remaining. The Golden Star never cut the deficit under 20 points at all in the second half, and Clayton State’s largest lead of the game was 43 points on three occasions. For the second straight game, newcomer Bernard Fields paced the Lakers with 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field. Williams, another exciting newcomer, scored 11 points and dished out six assists, while Sloan, Trey Goss, Will Lewis and Armel Traore Dit Nignan each added 10 points for the Lakers. Clayton State shot 53 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Golden Star 39-23. For the Golden Star, Christian Coppet led all scorers with 21
points with four 3-point baskets, while Gilles Raquil scored 14
points and Rodrique Riskwait scored 10 points. One bright for the
Golden Star was at the free throw line, where it shot 78 percent
(14-for-18). |
