Clayton State men advance in PBC Tournament with 63-48 victory over Georgia Southwestern
Kelly scores career-high 19 points as Lakers improve to 15-13 overall

AIKEN, S.C. – March 4, 2009 – The Clayton State Laker men’s basketball team took its first step towards defending its Peach Belt Conference Tournament Championship on Wednesday with a 63-48 victory over in-state rival Georgia Southwestern in the first round at USC Aiken’s Convocation Center.

The victory was the second straight and third in its last four games for Clayton State, now 15-13 overall on the season. It sets up a 7 p.m. Peach Belt Conference quarterfinal showdown on Friday between Clayton State and 17th-ranked USC Aiken at The Convocation Center.

"Georgia Southwestern is a good offensive team that matches up well against us," said Clayton State head coach Gordon Gibbons. "We wanted to play our game, which is defense and shutting them down.

"In the second half, our defense took over and we played very well together as a team."

Georgia Southwestern (10-18) stayed close with Clayton State much of the first half, shooting 55 percent from the field and 60 percent (6-for-10) from 3-point range. The Lakers clinged to a 33-29 halftime lead.

However, the Clayton State defense clamped down in the second half. The Lakers limited the Hurricanes to only 32 percent shooting from the field and only 3-for-17 (17 percent) from 3-point range.

Georgia Southwestern trimmed the Laker lead to three points early in the second half on consecutive 3-point baskets by Evan Mobley and Anthony Sargent. However, Clayton State stretched the lead back to eight points on a 3-point basket by Tre Goss, and a Will Lewis jump shot gave the Lakers a 45-37 lead at the 12:20 mark.

The Hurricanes trimmed the lead to six points on another Sargent 3-point basket, but the Lakers’ Ricky Garrett made a huge steal at midcourt and converted a breakaway dunk with 6:21 left. Georgia Southwestern never got closer than eight points after that as Clayton State slowly sealed the victory.

Senior forward Brian Kelly scored a career-high 19 points to pace the Lakers, while Jaquas Dobbs and Lewis each scored 12 points. Clayton State shot 46 percent from the field and committed only nine turnovers while forcing 22 Hurricane turnovers.

For Georgia Southwestern, Mobley scored 13 points and Sargent scored 11 points.