Claflin men push win streak to six with win over Albany State

Albany, Ga. — Timothy Christian scored a game-high 16 points off six-of-nine from the field, as the Claflin University men’s basketball team pushed its win streak to six with a 68-51 win over Albany State University in a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) contest in Albany, Ga.

With the win, the Panthers improve to 7-1 overall and 3-0 in the SIAC.

Albany State remains winless on the season at 0-8 overall and 0-3 in the SIAC.

Jaleel Charles, this week’s SIAC Player of the Week, continues to play consistent, recording a double-double, 14 points-11 rebounds.  Charles also recorded one block in the contest.

Austin Lawton finished the game with 12 points, eight rebounds and three blocks, while Kobie Williams came off the bench to drop in nine points in the win.

Albany State was led by Rahdin Hughes with 10 points and eight rebounds.  JaDon Davis also added 10 points for the Golden Rams.

After Claflin scored the first two points to open the scoring of the second half, Albany State scored the next five points to cut the half-time lead to single digits, 39-28.

The Panthers used a mini 4-0 run to push its lead 13, 43-28, and force the Golden Rams into a quick timeout.

The Panthers kept pressing pushing its lead to 19, 49-30, with 15:08 remaining in the contest.

Despite Claflin’s spotty scoring over the next four-plus minutes, the Panthers managed to maintained at least a 15 point lead.

Claflin controlled the momentum over the next six-plus minutes obtaining its biggest lead of the contest, 22, 62-40, with 5:15 remaining.

Albany State scored eight straight points over a one minute span to pull within 15, 62-48, with just over four minutes remaining but could not get any closer, thus falling by the 17 point margin.

Claflin controlled the game from the opening tip, scoring the first 9-of-11 points to jump out to a seven point advantage, 9-2, by the first media timeout 15:46.

Albany State hit a three pointer out of the timeout to cut the lead to four, 9-5, but Claflin went on a 9-2 run which pushed its lead back to 11, 18-7 with 11:25 left in the half.

A free-throw by the Golden Rams at the 11:08 mark halted the Panthers run.

Claflin maintained the momentum taking its then largest lead, 14, 29-15, with 7:54 showing in the clock.

Albany State managed to cut the lead to seven, 29-22, at the 4:26 mark.

The Panthers outscored the Golden Rams 8-1 the remainder of the half for the 37-23 lead at intermission.

Claflin will travel to Fort Valley State University on Saturday (Dec. 2) for another divisional game. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. at the HPE Complex on the Fort Valley State campus.

Claflin Athletics contributed to the writing of this article.