Box Score Damien Davis scored 24 points and had 10 rebounds in his final game, but it wasn't enough as the Clark Atlanta University Panthers fell to Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foe Claflin 72-61 in the first round of the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament Saturday.

The Panthers, nationally ranked throughout the second half of the season and in the SIAC championship game with Claflin just one week ago, finishes the season 24-6.

After being down by as many as 16 points midway through the second half, CAU pulled to within striking distance on Jalen Mitchell's jumper with 3:32 left made it 64-56.   But Claflin scored 16 of the game's next 18 points to put the game out of reach.

"I kept telling the guy that we're just one run away," Jordan said.  "Unfortunately, the run never happened and the clock caught us today."

Davis was one of four seniors playing what turned out to be their final game in CAU uniforms. Along with his double-double, Davis had two assists and was active in the paint all day against Claflin's big man, Jaleel Charles.

"Coach Walker said [Charles] would be scared to get into foul trouble because he knows he's the only big that they have," Davis said.  "So, he basically told me to attack him every chance I get and that's what I did."

CAU's problems came from a bad shooting day, both from the field (34 percent) and at the foul line (43 percent).

"Our style of play, 100 miles an hour, whether the team hits or misses, we like to push the ball," Jordan said. "We kind of slowed down and got away from what we did at the beginning of the year.  If you look at the last ten games, we stopped pushing the ball the way we were capable of.  Their coach did a good job of making adjustment by putting the token pressure on us back into a zone. Whether we were making or missing shots, you turned around and those little guards where there up on the press and our guys slowed down today."

"They did a good job when they went to the free throw line," Jordan said.  "They made theirs, but unfortunately, we missed twelve.  It's kind of hard to beat a team missing twelve free throws."

Jalen Mitchell finished with 14 points, three rebounds, an assist and a steal while Anthony Williams, another senior, had ten points, ten rebounds and three assists.

Charles led Claflin with 15 points and ten rebounds, while Benjamin Williams also had 15 points.