Austin Donaldson calmly hit two free throws with 18.7 seconds left to lift the Clark Atlanta University Panthers to a  thrilling 77-76 victory over Flagler College Friday in the L.S. Epps Memorial Challenge. 

Shelvick Henry Jr had 26 points, 18 of it during a second half.  After being down 73-65 with 3:24 remaining, the Panthers had a 12-3 run, keyed by a fierce, trapping defense and a raucous, loud crowd at Epps Gymnasium.

After three wins in which they averaged 98 points a game, CAU (4-0) had shot only 28 percent in a first half in which they trailed 31-27.

"I knew we were going to have a game where we were not going to shoot the ball well," said CAU head coach Darrell Walker.  "I challenged my guys at halftime to see if they could grind the game out. You're not going to make shots all the time… This team took the air out of the ball.  We shot 28 percent in the first half, but we were only down four.  So that let me know that we were playing pretty good defense. 

"In the second half, I decided to quit letting [Flagler] take the air out of the ball, and press and trap and make it a scramble game and see if we could get some turnovers and some easy baskets and we were able to do that," Walker said.  "That turned the tide.  That ignited the crowd. That ignited us."

The Panthers defense forced 22 turnovers, scoring 29 points off of those turnovers.

Henry had six rebounds, five assists and two steals to go with his 26 points.  He hit 10-of-10 free throws. Akil Douglas had 15 points, seven rebounds, a block and a steal. Donaldson had 11 points, six rebounds, five steals and four assists. Anthony Williams had nine points and four steals.

Flagler was led by Vaughn McCall's 26 points, while Damerit Brown had 19 points and nine rebounds. Cortlin Davis also had 19 points while Jeffercy Jean had ten rebounds.

CAU is back in action Saturday afternoon when they host Georgia College at 5 p.m. in the final game of the L.S. Epps Memorial Challenge.  Georgia College defeated Paine College 83-51 earlier in the tournament at Epps Gymnasium.

"They push the ball up the court," Walker said.  "Got some of the same guys they had last year when we lost to them 68-66 last season.  That was a really gritty game, but they are really trying to push the ball this year.  But we just have to come out and defend again."

The game will be streamed live at www.mybcsn.com/cau.