Box Score Damien Davis led three Clark Atlanta University players in double figures with 17 points, including a big basket late that helped the Panthers to hold off Benedict 71-69 Saturday on the road.

The Panthers, ranked 21^st in the nation and leading the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference East Division, were up by just one, 68-67 after Benedict's Cairo Brown hit a 3-pointer with 1:10 remaining.  But Davis hit a layup with 45 second left to extend the lead to 70-67. Brown got another basket to pull Benedict within one, but the Tigers couldn't convert.  Shelvick Henry Jr. added a free throw for CAU as the Panthers got the win.

"I thought it was a team effort," said Clark Atlanta Head Coach Darrell Walker. "With about seven minutes left to play, I told my players that it was going to be a grind out game until the end.  When you're on the road, you can't expect much from anybody. You've got to play through some things and we did tonight."

Clark Atlanta is now 20-1 this season, 14-0 in the SIAC.  Benedict's second loss to in two weeks to CAU leaves them at 17-6 overall, 10-5 in the SIAC.

Davis finished with 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists and a steal for CAU, while Henry had 15 points, eight rebounds and an assist.   Akil Douglas had 15 points, six rebounds, three steals, a block and an assist.  Anthony Williams finished with eight points, five assists, five rebounds, a steal and a block.

The Panthers hit 49 percent of their shots Saturday and kept an opponent under 70 points for the 11^th time in the last 14 games.  Clark Atlanta went into the game as the only SIAC team to be in the conference's top three in scoring offense and scoring defense.

Brown led Benedict with 18 points.

"I thought Double D [Davis] down the stretch was very big," Walker said. "We went to him a lot in crunch time. He delivered with some really nice moves in the post. I thought Shelvick gave us a big lift off the bench with 15 points off the bench.  That was big.  Those points off the bench are really big in close games like this. 

"If you're going to win this thing, you've got to win on the road," Walker said.  "And tonight was a good test for us."

Next up for Clark Atlanta is another tough road game at Claflin University on Monday, Feb. 5.  CAU defeated then 20^th-ranked Claflin 97-82 on Jan. 22.  Claflin has lost four of their last five, but beat 7^th ranked Morehouse, who had been undefeated, 85-72 three days ago. 

"At this time of the year, twenty-something games into the season, everybody knows what everybody else is going to do," Walker said. "It's going to be who executes the best and doesn't turn the ball over.  It's going to be another dogfight.  They want to beat us"