MORROW, Ga. - November 24, 2007 – Throughout the preseason, the talk around the Peach Belt Conference was the improvements made by the USC-Aiken Pacers during the off-season. The Clayton State Lakers got a glimpse of that improvement on Saturday as USC-Aiken took a 70-60 victory in the Peach Belt Conference opener for both teams at the Athletics and Fitness Center.

The defeat was the second straight for Clayton State, now 1-2 overall.

The Lakers led early by as many as four points, and then trailed 13-12 when USC-Aiken put together an 11-1 run over a three-minute span. Casey McMasters drained two free throws, and then a 3-point basket by Chris Commons increased the USC-Aiken lead to 19-12 at the 8:01 mark.

Commons then drained another 3-point basket, and his tip in at the 6:28 mark gave the Pacers a 24-13 lead.

The largest lead of the first half for the Pacers was 16 points, 35-19 with 41 seconds remaining in which they drained five free throws in the final minute thanks to a Laker technical foul. However, Clayton State cut the deficit to 35-24 at halftime as Jordan Windisch drained a 3-pont basket with 18 seconds remaining.

Thanks to three 3-point baskets in the first three minutes of the second half, USC-Aiken extended the lead to 17 points, 44-27. It then took its largest lead of the game 46-27 on two McMaster free throws with 15:56 remaining.

However, Clayton State stormed back. Bernard Fields drained a 3-point basket to trim the Pacer lead to 10 points, 46-36 at the 13:09 mark, and a free throw by Will Lewis cut the lead to 50-43 with 6:57 remaining. But the closest Clayton State was able to cut into the USC-Aiken lead was six points, 66-60 with 19 seconds remaining.

Lewis had his best game yet in a Laker uniform, pacing Clayton State with 17 points on 7-for-8 shooting from the free throw line. Tracy Williams scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds off the bench, while Fields scored nine points and Brian Kelly added eight points and eight rebounds for the Lakers.

Defensively, Clayton State held USC-Aiken to only 28 percent shooting from both the field and from 3-point range. However, free throw shooting was the Achilles’ heel for the Lakers as they missed 13 from the charity stripe.

For USC-Aiken (3-0, 1-0), McMasters scored 22 points on four 3-point baskets, while Commons scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Kingsley Oguchi added 10 points for the Pacers.