No. 20 Pirates Overcome 16-Point Deficit, Beat Clayton State 64-60

MORROW, Ga. - The No. 20-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State men's basketball team overcame a 16-point second-half deficit to defeat Clayton State, 64-60, in Peach Belt Conference action on Monday evening in Morrow, Ga.

The Pirates (19-5, 12-5 PBC) won for the first time in Morrow since the 2002-03 season, snapping a streak of five straight losses at Clayton State. The Lakers (12-11, 5-11 PBC) dropped their fifth straight contest with the loss.

It looked like the Lakers would snap that streak early as they built an eight point halftime lead, 32-24, then extended that lead to 16 on a Trey Goss layup with 14:56 left in the contest, making the score 48-32.

AASU would start to heat up from long range soon after, as Keron McKenzie and Dwight Tolbert combined to make four of their next five three-pointers to bring the Pirates back into the game. A three-point play by Brian Moultrie tied the game at 56-all with 5:53 remaining, and another three-pointer by McKenzie would put the Pirates up by four, 62-58, with 2:27 left.

A Ricky Garrett jumper from Clayton State with just over two minutes left cut the lead to two, but AASU would hold the Lakers scoreless in the final two minutes to claim the victory, AASU's fourth in their last five games.

Tolbert finished the evening with a game-high 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the floor, including 5-of-8 three-pointers. McKenzie came off the bench to hit 4-of-7 three-pointers for 12 points, while Gabriel Robinson dished out a game-high nine assists.

Bernard Fields led the Lakers with 18 points, while Garrett finished the night with 14 points.

AASU hit 7-of-12 three-pointers after intermission (58.3 percent) and held the Lakers to just 3-of-13 from beyond the arc after halftime.

The Pirates return to action on Thursday, February 19, with a 7:30 p.m. Peach Belt Conference contest against Columbus State at Alumni Arena.