Clark-Atlanta rallied from 13 down to defeat Claflin and earn a spot Saturday’s SIAC championship game.
Despite their All-Conference and All-American forward Brandon Morris picking up two early fouls, Benedict was able to build a ten-point halftime lead off the strength of blistering shoot from behind the arc. Benedict shot 8-15 from three-point range in the first half and shot 50% overall (14-28) from the floor.
Benedict would build a 15 point lead at 47-32, its largest of the evening, on Dimitri Cook’s layup with 15:24 remaining in the ballgame. Following a jumper by Cairo Williams that put the lead at 54-41,Clark-Atlanta would use full-court pressure to spearhead a 16-2 run that would lift them to a 57-56 lead with 6:51 to go in the game.
Cairo Brown would split a pair of free throws to tie the game, but CAU scored their next four points from the charity stripe and never trailed the rest of the game.
