Claflin Falls to Fort Valley State in SIAC Championships

Birmingham, Ala. (Claflin)—Triston Thompson scored a game-high 16 points with six rebounds but that was not enough as the Claflin University men’s basketball team fell to Fort Valley State University, 76-58, in the quarterfinal of the 2017 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Championships at the Bill Harris Arena in Birmingham, Ala.

With the loss, the Panthers finish the 2016-17 season at 17-10.

Claflin had three players to finish in double-figures as Austin Lawton dropped in 14 and Benjamin Williams contributed 13.

Lawton also pulled in six rebounds with four blocks and one steal.

Fort Valley State (12-17) was led by Jalen Crawford with 15 points.  Tyler Edwards scored 13, James Barnes contributed 12 and Jaylon McMillan added 10 for the Wildcats in the win.

Both teams offense was solid out of intermission.

After exchanging baskets for the first five minutes, Claflin slowly chipped away at the Fort Valley half-time lead.

The Panthers used a 21-10 run that was culminated by a Trevor Danztler a three-pointer with 10:56 remaining to cut the Wildcats halftime lead to one, 43-42.

Denard Williams hit a free-throw 23 seconds later push the lead back to two but then Thompson connected on two-of-three free throws with 10:05remaining to pull the Panthers even at 46-all.

The Wildcats would push their lead to 15 with a little over two minutes remaining before going on to capture the 18 point victory.

“I first want to congratulate Coach Sammy Jackson and the Fort Valley team on a job well done,” said Claflin coach Ricky Jackson.  “His team outplayed us today from start to finish.”

“I am proud of my guys for their play this season and how we progressed thru the season.  We haven’t been playing good basketball down the stretch and it just caught up to us tonight.  Claflin will be back next season, loaded and ready to roll.  We will be back stronger next year ready to take another step further; looking to be in the championship game.”

The first five minutes of the contest saw Claflin and Fort Valley exchange baskets with   Claflin owning a three point lead, 8-5, with 13:40remaining in the period.

Fort Valley’s offensive intensity then picked up.  The Wildcats went on a 15-0 run over a five minute period to take a 20-8 lead with 8:31remaining.

A layup by Lawton 20 seconds later stopped the run and ignited Claflin offense.  The Panthers scored the next 10-of-15 points to cut the deficit to seven, 25-18, with just over five minutes remaining.

The Wildcats closed the half on an 8-3 run to take a 12 point lead into intermission, 33-21.