MORROW, Ga. – Flagler College shot 51.5% from the field in the first half and held a 17-point lead, then withstood a second half rally by Clayton State University for an 83-80 win in a Peach Belt Conference men's basketball game Monday afternoon at the Athletics & Fitness Center.
Flagler snapped a couple of losing streaks with the win today. The Saints halted a six-game losing streak and a 17-game road losing streak to even their record at 7-7 overall and 2-6 in the Peach Belt. Flagler's last road victory came against Armstrong State University (64-59) on Feb. 4, 2015. Clayton State dropped to 8-8 overall and 3-4 in conference play.
The Saints sprinted out to a 21-8 lead and held its largest lead, 52-35, at the half.
Flagler made 17 of its 33 attempts from the field and went 11 of 13 (84.6%) from the free throw line in the first 20 minutes. The Saints also made 58.3% (7-12) of their shots from 3-point range.
Clayton State went on a 10-2 run midway through second half to cut the deficit to single digits, 67-59, after a Jaylen Taylor layup. Later, they used an 18-7 run to take the lead, 80-79. Dantez Bennamon made back-to-back layups, the last one with 33 seconds left, to give the Lakers the lead.
However, following a Flagler timeout,
Vaughn McCall sank a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left to give the Saints the lead, 82-80. Bennamon missed a jumper at the other end and the ball went out of bounds to Flagler.
Ben Bobbitt was fouled on the in-bounds pass with two seconds left and he made the first of two free throws. Kyle Kinsey's shot at the buzzer was not good and the Saints held on for a three-point victory.
McCall led four Saints in double figures with 21 points. He made five 3-pointers.
Cortlin Davis added 15 points and blocked three shots while
Chris Williams chipped in with 12 points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
Jeffercy Jean contributed 10 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
Alfonso Davis scored a team-high 21 points for the Lakers and he completed the double-double with a game-high 12 rebounds. Christoff Nairn added 16 points while Jaumonee Byrd tallied 10 points.
Clayton State out-scored Flagler 48-26 in the paint and grabbed 21 offensive rebounds which led to 19 points, 16 of those came in the second half.
Flagler will head to Augusta, Georgia to take on the Jaguars on Wednesday (Jan. 18) at 7:30 p.m.
