Box Score
In the men's game, Claflin led by as many as 14 before a Clark Atlanta rally capped by an Earl Lawrence layup with 0.9 second left lifted the visiting Panthers to a 68-66 win.
Lawrence's layup came off the heels of a critical 3-point jumper by Kendall Jackson with 20 seconds left in the game. Claflin, then, switched their attention to the defensive end of the court, where they clamped down and tipped the ball out of bounds with two seconds left. It was there that Claflin head coach Ricky Jackson requested a time out. However, the request went unrecognized.
"He turned around and looked at me," Jackson said. "He heard me, but I'm not going to put it on him. If you saw it, he turned around and looked at me and I'm yelling 'Time out! Time out!'"
Claflin gained separation in the first half beginning at the 9:17 mark. The host Panthers went on a 20-2 run, with Jackson leading the way, scoring seven of his game-high 20 points during the spurt.
"Kendall is a warrior," Jackson said. "He plays hard. He tries to do everything I ask him to do. He's the ultimate team player. He's a great kid."
But Clark Atlanta, despite Jackson's efforts, continued to chip away at Claflin's lead. Thanks to Claflin's inability to break Clark Atlanta's press, the visiting Panthers were able to build an 11-2 run that gave them a 62-61 lead with 3:01 to go.
"We got a little stagnated," Jackson explained when asked about the Clark Atlanta press. "We got stagnated and their pressure seemed to bother us. Clark did a very good job."
Claflin fought on, only to find themselves trailing 66-63, following two free throws by Lawrence and a Kevin James basket with 1:29 left.
The loss drops Claflin to 6-11 overall and extends their losing streak to three games. With every game now being critical to their conference standing, the Panthers will look to snap this slide and right the ship before regular-season's end.
"We'll come in tomorrow and we'll practice hard," Jackson said. "We'll get ready for Morehouse. This game is over. We've played it. There's nothing else we can do about it. We've got to keep playing."
