Men's Basketball 1/30/2019 6:30:00 PM

Claflin Face Rival Benedict

Columbia, S.C. – It will be the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) versus the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) when the Claflin University Panthers visit arch-rival Benedict College on Thursday (Jan. 31).

Tip-off for the intrastate matchup is slated for 7:30 p.m. under the lights at the Benjamin E. Mays HRC Arena on the Benedict campus.

This will be the first of two non-conference meetings between Claflin and Benedict this season. The two will square off next month in Orangeburg.

The Panthers will enter the clash on the heels of a tough 64-63 loss at Johnson C. Smith University in a CIAA contest on Monday (28). Nenad Milenkovic scored the winning basket for Johnson C. Smith with 29 seconds left.

Triston Thompson led Claflin with 16 points. Currently, Thompson shares team-high honors in scoring with Danny Brown at 13.5 points.

Austin Lawton and Cornellius Reynolds also enjoyed a productive outing against Johnson C. Smith as each finished the game with a double-double. Lawton hit for 14 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, while Reynolds added 11 points and 11 rebounds in the loss.

For the season, Lawton is averaging 10.3 points and 6.3 rebounds followed by Jaimik Moore with 10.1 points.

As for Benedict, the Tigers are in the midst of a four-game losing streak, following an 80-71 loss at Fort Valley State University in SIAC action on Monday (Jan. 28).

The Tigers are 3-17 on the season and 2-6 at home this season.

Benedict is led in scoring by Romello Jones at 12.3 points followed by two players who are scoring just under the double-figure mark in DeShawn Graham with 9.8 points and Kelvin Omojola at 9.7 points.

In last year meetings, Benedict posted a 68-64 win in Columbia, while Claflin avenged the loss, defeating the Tigers 74-65 in Tullis Arena.

Following the contest with Benedict, the Panthers will return home for five-of-six games to close out the regular season. The home slate will start with Fayetteville State on Feb. 4 for First Responders Night (Police, Fire, EMS, Nurses, and Doctors). Members of the police and fire departments, EMS as well as nurses and medical doctors in uniform or with current ID will be receive a general admission ticket to the doubleheader for $5. Regular general admission for all Claflin University doubleheaders is $8.

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Players Mentioned

#33 Austin Lawton: C; 6' 9"; Redshirt Junior

#04 Triston Thompson: G; 5' 9"; Junior

#20 Danny Brown: G; 6' 3"; Senior

#2 Cornellius Reynolds: G/F; 6' 6"; Junior

#5 Jaimik Moore: G/F; 6' 5"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#33 Austin Lawton
: 6' 9"; Redshirt Junior
: C

#04 Triston Thompson
: 5' 9"; Junior
: G

#20 Danny Brown
: 6' 3"; Senior
: G

#2 Cornellius Reynolds
: 6' 6"; Junior
: G/F

#5 Jaimik Moore
: 6' 5"; Junior
: G/F