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Benedict 55, Claflin 45

January 29, 2009

by Lut Williams BCSP Editor/Special to Onnidan

ORANGEBURG, SC ­ In a battle of nationally-ranked NCAA Div. II and SIAC South Carolina black colleges here Thursday night, 19th-ranked Benedict avenged an earlier loss to 15th-ranked Claflin, holding them to two baskets over the final ten minutes to knock off the formerly once-beaten Panthers on their home floor, 55-45.

Benedict (14-2, 12-1 SIAC) led at the half 24-19 but the home-standing Panthers clawed back, then caught and passed them to lead 39-38 at the 9:58 mark on reserve center Rafael Clyburn¹s foul-line jumper, his only basket of the game.

But that¹s when Ron Woodard¹s Claflin team went stone cold.

While his Panthers (16-2, 15-2) could manage only a lone Phillip Brown free throw at the four-minute mark before Eric Salley broke the field goal drought with a leaner off the glass in the lane with 2:41 left, Benedict repeatedly attacked the basket during the 12-3, 7-minute run to build a game-deciding 50-42 lead.

Benedict senior point guard Darius Lane was the ringleader, controlling the tempo while getting the Tigers in position for easy baskets with his penetration. But he was not alone. Rugged 6-4 sophomore forward Michael Holmes, who missed the first game between the rivals with a high ankle sprain, was also relentless inside, pulling down 11 rebounds and muscling his way to a team-high 14 points. Lane finished with 12 points.

Six-eight Benedict big man Martinez Woody had four points and added 10 boards as the Tigers ended with a healthy 42-30 margin on the glass.

³We just had to turn up our defensive intensity,² said victorious Benedict coach Fred Watson of the difference between this night¹s effort and his team¹s 68-57 loss on Jan. 7 in Columbia. It was his team¹s eighth straight win since the early January defeat.

³Claflin is a great offensive execution team and we were just trying to get them out of their stuff, show them a lot of different looks, do a lot of switching, hedging hard and recovering,² said Watson. ³We were just trying to mix up our defense against them. This game we got stops down the stretch. Last time we didn¹t.² Benedict scoring leader Ernest Sinkfield was the Panthers¹ only double-figure scorer, netting a game-high 17, including 12 of their first 17 to open the second half. But after his two free throws at the 12-minute mark pulled the Tigers within 38-35, he was scoreless the rest of the way.

Sinkfield shot 6-of-13 from the field, but made just 3 of 9 three-pointers.

Benedict¹s other double-figure scorers, Phillip Brown (1-of-8) and Eric Salley (3-of-8) could not take up the slack, shooting a combined 4-for-16 on the night. Brown was next high for the Panthers with 7 points.

³We didn¹t match their intensity,² said Woodard, who had watched his team rise high in the polls in its first year of official NCAA Div. II and SIAC play. ³And we didn¹t do what we said we needed to do. We needed to control the boards. We needed to get inside and not take so many three-pointers. And we needed to hit our free throws.² His team failed in each category ­ hoisting 22 3s and making only five, and going just 4-of-11 from the charity stripe.

The points were few and far between as both teams struggled from the field in a nip-and-tuck first half. Benedict shot just slightly better, converting 9-of-29 (31.0%) from the field, and outscoring Claflin 10-5 over the last seven minutes to break from a 14-14 tie to get the five-point lead at the break. Benedict scoring leader Bennie Lewis and Holmes both had five first-half points to lead Benedict while Salley and Sinkfield also had five for Claflin.

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