MORROW, Ga. --- The Clayton State men's basketball team placed six players in double figures as the Lakers edged visiting Tusculum 83-79 in the final game of the 2021 Peach Belt Conference / South Atlantic Conference Challenge Saturday afternoon. The two-day event was held at Barfield Court on the Clayton State campus.
Ricardo Saams, Jr. went 8-for-8 from the field and dished out seven of his team's 21 assists as he led the Lakers (1-1) with 18 points, all off the bench. Wes Williams added 14 points, while Ricardo Lynch had 13 points in the victory.
Tusculum (0-2) was led by William Vedder for a second straight game as he poured in a game-high 20 points including 4-of-5 shooting from three-point territory. Justin Mitchell added 14 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals in his team-high 30 minutes on the floor. Brandon Mitchell finished with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting, while freshman KJ Crump had nine points in the loss.
The Pioneers jumped out to an early 6-0 lead as Justin Mitchell connected on back-to-back three-pointers in the opening 65 seconds.
Midway through the first half, TU held a 22-17 lead, but the Lakers responded with a 12-2 run to take a 29-22 lead with 5:35 remaining in the period.
After a Lynch dunk to make it 31-24, the Pioneers used a 10-0 spurt thanks to triples from Vedder and Jalen Crowder, along with a dunk by Brandon Mitchell as TU led 34-31 with 2:12 left in the half. Wes Williams tied the game at 34-34 with his three pointer but layups from Crump and junior Jacob Hobbs lifted Tusculum to a 40-36 halftime lead.
Saams scored consecutive baskets to open the second half to tie the game at 40-40. The lead would exchange hands before the Pioneers went on a 9-3 run which was sparked by a Hobbs three-pointer and a bucked from Vedder as TU led 50-45 at the 16:17 mark of the second half.
Clayton State scored six in a row to regain the lead at 51-50 as the lead swapped hands and the game would experience three more ties including 59-59 with under 10 minutes left in the contest.
The Lakers went up 61-59 on a Samms' layup and it would be a lead CSU would not relinquish. Up 66-64 with five minutes left, Clayton State scored seven in row including a three-pointer from Brian Coffey for a 73-64 advantage with 3:09 remaining.
The Lakers pushed the lead out to as much as 10 (78-68) before the Pioneers made a final push as Vedder connected on consecutive 3-pointers to pull TU within four at 78-74 with 34 seconds left. Coffey was fouled as he made one of two free throws. The Pioneers got a layup from Hobbs with 20 seconds remaining to make it a one-possession game (79-76).
TU fouled Coffey immediately to send him back to the charity stripe. He made both to make it an 81-76 contest. Vedder nailed his fourth trey of the game with 8.8 seconds left to trim the deficit to 81-79. After a Tusculum timeout, Williams was fouled with 2.2 seconds remaining. He would make both free throws to seal the win for the home team.
Clayton State shot 51.8 percent from the floor including 16-of-27 (59.3%) in the second half. Tusculum shot 50 percent for a second straight game, but were out-rebounded 36-26. TU, who committed 19 turnovers on Friday in its season-opening loss to USC Aiken, committed on eight turnovers on Saturday.
Tusculum shot 11-of-21 from three-point land, but only went to the free throw line on five occasions, making only two of those attempts. Clayton State shot 17-of-25 from the line for 68 percent.
The Pioneers will open South Atlantic Conference play this Wednesday night when they host Carson-Newman at Pioneer Arena for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.
