Atlanta, Ga.--A repeat of the conference championship is an afterthought as the No.5 Clark Atlanta University Panthers stumbled with a 76-74 loss to the sixth-seeded Lions of Paine College in the quarterfinal round of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Thursday at Forbes Arena on the campus of Morehouse College.

After a quick tempo in the first ten minutes of play, the Lions went on a 12 to 6 run and opened their largest lead of the game at 10 points with 2:30 remaining. This momentum carried them down the stretch as they took at 42-30 lead into halftime.

To open the second half, the Panthers closed the gap and knotted the game at 55 on a basket by Royce Hamilton at the 10:00 mark. Both teams traded scores for the next two minutes until Paine went on a 7-0 run and captured a 70-63 lead with five minutes remaining. The game was close down stretch and despite a valiant comeback effort by CAU, the Lions proved to be too strong as they held on for the victory.

Kedric Taylor led a trio of Lions in double-digits with 21 points followed by Geno Green with 20 and Allen Young who chipped in 15. For the Panthers, Logan Shoffner finished with a game-high 22 points while Hamilton added 20 points and eight rebounds along with Antonio Burch’s 12 points.

The Panthers finished the season with 15 wins.