Fields shines as Clayton State men advance in PBC Tournament 53-50
Lewis scores 13 points off the bench as Lakers even up at 14-14 overall

AIKEN, S.C. – March 5, 2008 – Having played his junior college basketball at neighboring Aiken Tech, Wednesday’s first round of the Peach Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament at USC-Aiken’s Convocation Center was like a “Homecoming” for Clayton State’s Bernard Fields.

And the junior guard made the most of it against UNC-Pembroke.

Fields scored the go-ahead basket with 32 seconds remaining, and then made a tremendous defensive play in the waning seconds, preserving a hard-fought 53-50 victory for Clayton State. With the victory, the Lakers are now an even 14-14 on the season and will battle 10^th-ranked Augusta State in the Peach Belt Conference Tournament quarterfinals at 1 p.m.

“We just wanted to get the tournament started off right,” said Clayton State head coach Gordon Gibbons. “We have had a very interesting conference run where we have beat some of the better teams in the league and lost to some of the teams that don’t have the top records.

“But our defense is what we build our team on. Tonight we went to work with the press, and that was huge for us in the second half. That was really the difference.”

Nothing could go right for the Lakers offensively. Clayton State shot only 34 percent from the field for the game, but only 14 percent (3-for-22) from 3-point range. In the second half alone, the Lakers shot only 1-for-12 from 3-point range for eight percent.

However, it was the pressure defense that saved the Lakers. Trailing 50-43 with 1:20 remaining in the game, Clayton State finished the game on a 10-0 run.

Tracy Williams started the rally with two free throws, and then the Lakers’ Michael Sloan forced a steal and hit two free throws with 58 seconds remaining to trim the UNC-Pembroke lead to 50-47.

Clayton State forced another turnover on the Braves’ ensuing possession, and then Fields scored on a tip-in with 52 seconds remaining to cut the lead to one point. On UNC-Pembroke’s next possession, the Lakers forced another turnover with a jump ball. That set up a running baseline jump shot by Fields with 32 seconds remaining to give the Lakers a 51-50 lead.

UNC-Pembroke had one last shot at a possible victory, and had a golden opportunity when the Braves’ Jarrell Hunter got a wide-open pass off a backdoor screen. But Fields came out of nowhere to block the lay-up attempt with eight seconds remaining. Williams hit both free throws with two seconds remaining, and then Sloan blocked a last-second desperation 3-point attempt by UNC-Pembroke’s Sammie Garner.

“We rebounded pretty good on the offensive boards, but the defense kept us in the game,” said Fields. “You could sense the momentum start to turn our way and we turned up the pressure and stayed together all the way to the end.”

Sophomore forward Will Lewis paced Clayton State with 13 points off the bench, while Fields scored 12 points and Williams scored 10 points. The Lakers held UNC-Pembroke to only 39 percent shooting from the field and forced 25 Braves’ turnovers.

Jonathan Hart scored 16 points to pace UNC-Pembroke, including nine in the first half as the Braves twice led by nine points and held a 23-20 lead at halftime. Zach Honeycutt scored 12 points and Hunter scored 11 points.