Pacers cruise past Lakers in Alexander's return
Jan. 20—USC AIKEN 83, CLAYTON STATE 63
It could have been easy for the USC Aiken men's basketball team to have still been a bit tired coming into Wednesday night's game against Clayton State.
The Pacers just endured a double-overtime shootout on the road last Saturday at Georgia Southwestern, and now they had to turn right back around for another crucial Peach Belt Conference with a lot of extra excitement surrounding it.
Instead, USCA showed it was no worse for wear and controlled the game from start to finish in an 83-63 win over the Lakers and former USCA head coach Vince Alexander.
"I tell you what, I thought that in the first half from tip to buzzer the guys really produced and performed," Pacers coach Mark Vanderslice said. "I'll be honest with you. There's a lot of games where it's a tale of two halves, maybe play good in the first but not the second and vice versa. I thought the guys really did a good job from tip to buzzer. I was really proud of the way they came out and hustled and just gave everything they had, left their heart on the floor."
Look no further than the opening minutes of the game. USCA (11-5, 5-1 PBC) surged to a 12-0 start, then after a quick 6-1 response from the Lakers (6-8, 1-4) returned the margin back to double digits.
USCA carried a 14-point lead into the half and coasted from there. The Pacers shot 51.6% from the floor while limiting the Lakers to 37.7%, and they led by as many 23 points in the second half.
The Pacers again cashed in on turnovers, and they held a 22-4 margin in points scored off those turnovers.
"Turnover margin has been our friend this year," Vanderslice said. "It's one thing if you have 13 turnovers, which is unacceptable for us. It's another thing if we have 13 and the other team has (22). We have to continue to gain possessions, I call them possession margins. We've got to make sure that we continue to take care of the rock, continue to rebound the ball, continue to pressure the ball, and I think more possessions will come our way."
Tehree Horn led all scorers with a career-high 30 points, and he added a career-high 10 rebounds for his first double-double.
"Oh man, I tell you what. Tehree did a great job tonight. He was kind of everywhere on the court. He's slowly becoming a complete player," Vanderslice said. "When he first got here, he was more just concerned about scoring. I love scoring. You can't win if you don't score. I get it. He's starting to buy into the fact that it's easy to be motivated to score. It's hard to be motivated to play defense. We want the guys to play defense and rebounds, and he's starting to buy into that. When you become a complete player, you make everyone better."
David Strother scored 15 points and dished out six assists, Latreavin Black had 12 points and nine rebounds, and Tyler Johnson and Preston Parks scored eight points apiece.
This game had been circled on the calendar for locals since last March when Alexander was introduced as Clayton State's new coach after stints at Rice and Saint Leo. The program's winningest coach, Alexander led USCA to 196 wins over 10 seasons (2005-15) with two trips to the Elite Eight and a Final Four appearance.
Up next for the Pacers is a 3:30 p.m. home tip Saturday against Young Harris.
