With nearly 90 seconds left, Claflin alumni and fans began to file out of the Jonas T. Kennedy Center. As the defending regular-season SIAC champs tried to chip away at the lead, Paine College proved to be more than capable of spoiling Homecoming by handing the Panthers a 70-59 loss.

Claflin and Paine didn’t exactly play up to their coach’s expectations in the first half. Claflin had some trouble taking care of the basketball, posting 14 turnovers in the first half. The Panthers’ miscues allowed Paine (1-0) to go on a 9-1 run for a 7-minute stretch to take an 18-10 lead.

“It set us back,” Claflin head coach Ron Woodard said. “We started out and we had a lot of unforced turnovers, throwing the ball away, not protecting the ball, not reading defenses and we just didn’t play well in the first half.”

Even with a large number of turnovers, Claflin was able to close the gap and found themselves trailing 24-21 at the half.

The Panthers (0-1) may have been within striking distance, but the Lions stuck with their game plan in the second half and it paid off. With 13:42 to go in the game, Geno Green’s 2-point basket extended Paine’s lead to 39-27. From that point, Claflin began to chip away at the double-digit deficit. Led by Anthony Pigram, who finished with 10 points, seven assists and eight turnovers, the Panthers went on a 17-3 run to take a 44-42 lead with 8:58 remaining in the second half and get the crowd involved. However, the Lions remained poised under the pressure of the homecoming crowd and put together a 15-2 run of their own to take a 57-46 lead with just over six minutes on the game clock.

Claflin refused to give in, going on a brief 8-3 spurt, making it a 60-54 game in favor of Paine with 2:12 left to play. Unfortunately for the Panthers, Lions guard Julian English caught fire in the second half and knocked down a few key shots in the final two minutes of the game for the Lions. English, who scored 18 of his game-high 26 points in the second half, recorded seven of the last 10 points for Paine to put the game away.

“Julian is one of our key ball players being a senior,” Paine head coach Ronnie Spry said. “This is his fourth season. So, of course, I’ve come to expect things from him being a senior and you always expect leadership from your seniors. Julian is one of those we look to for offense and look to for leadership.”

The Panthers brought in some new faces with new playing styles. Despite having four players score in double figures, Woodard feels his team must find a way to be of the same accord in order for the Panthers to have success this season.

“The biggest key is that they’ve got to go back and rededicate themselves,” Woodard said. “They’ve got to go back and rededicate themselves to hard work and I’m going to make sure that happens. Until we get that and the chemistry of what we’re doing, we’ll be in for a long season if we don’t get that straightened out.”

Before the men took the floor, the Pantherettes looked to bounce back from their disappointing season opener against St. Augustine earlier in the week. However, shooting 33 percent from the field and committing 18 turnovers hampered the Claflin women as they fell to the Lady Lions 62-55.

Claflin entered the second half with a 31-28 lead, but Paine made the most of their scoring opportunities and went on a 12-3 run to open the second half to take a 40-34 lead.

“They finally realized that if the man is open, give the man the ball,” Lady Lions head coach Terence Palmer said, “and if you’ve got the shot, take the shot. The difference (from the first half) was we made the open shots.”

Ashley Sorrell-Gibson, who ended the game with 12 points, was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made each of the free throws to tie the game 46-46. Donisha Albert added a basket to give Claflin a 2-point lead with 6:22 to go. Nevertheless, Paine went on a 10-0 run, ending with a field goal by Natoria Rowland to take a 54-48 lead. The Pantherettes continued to chip away at the lead with just under two minutes to play. Lashaundra Barron scored the last four of her game-high 18 points to make it a 56-52 game with 59 seconds to play, but Shanee’ Butler put the game out of reach for the Lady Lions with four consecutive free throw giving her a team-high 16 points.

Paine will have nearly a week to prepare before they host Lane College. Claflin will be back in action on Tuesday when they travel to Kentucky State.

 

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