Jalen Mitchell led by Panthers in double figures as Clark Atlanta overcame a slow start, taking over and holding on in the end to defeat Central State 77-76 Tuesday in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Basketball Tournament in Birmingham, Ala.

The Panthers (14-11) advance to the quarterfinals on Thursday at 7:45 p.m. CST when they take on the second seed from the West Division, LeMoyne Owen, at the Birmingham CrossPlex' Bill Harris Arena.

Central State, who lost to the Panthers by seven in December, led by as many as 13 points in the first half in which CAU only hit 28 percent of their shots.

"We talked about that one basket at shootaround, having the depth perception with no seats behind it," said CAU Head Coach George Lynch.  "We tried to focus on getting to the basket, getting some easy ones, lay-ups.  But Central State did a great job of keeping us out of the paint.  And once we got to the other end coming out of halftime, the guys just tried to focus in defensively.

"With their small lineups, it caused problems with us switching our bigs and guards," he said. "So we have to watch film and work on that.  They did a great job.  We can't blame it on the other basket. Central State took us out of some things.  We didn't quite execute offensively."
In the second half, the Panthers came alive.  Mitchell got a layup, followed by an Austin Donaldson steal that led to a Shelvick Henry layup to put CAU up 41-40 with 19:19 remaining.

Central State held, regain the lead and opened it up to eight points after Tom Johnson's basket made it 55-47 four minutes later, and then to nine with 13:08 left.   CAU then ripped off a 10-0 run that culminated in Romaine Thomas' 3-pointer which made it 59-58 Clark Atlanta with just over ten minutes left.

Four times over the next eight minutes, Clark Atlanta was able to extend the lead to five points, the final time on two Donaldson free throws with 2:13 remaining, making it 74-69.  Central State then went on a 7-0 run that gave them a 76-75 lead after Orion Monford's 3-
pointer with less than a minute remaining.

Donaldson sliced the lane for layup to put CAU back in front, 77-76, with 37 seconds left.  Central State had a chance to win the game on a final shot, but Monford's attempt bounced
off the rim as time expired.

"It would have been a heartbreaker," Mitchell said.  "It was a good look that he got, but luckily it didn't go in."

Mitchell finished with 17 points and six rebounds, while Donaldson had 16 points, two assists and a rebound.  Henry and Thomas each added 12 points while Jason Myrie finished with ten points, three rebounds and an assist.

Johnson had 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting and seven rebounds to lead Central State.

The Panthers now focus on LeMoyne Owen, a team CAU defeated 84-77 in early January in Memphis, Tenn.  CAU fought off a couple of LeMoyne Owen runs in that game to take control early in the second half.

Lynch said his team will be looking at how Central State made things tough Tuesday as they get ready for the quarterfinal matchup on Thursday.

"But we'll be better on Thursday," he said.

Tonight's game will be streamed live by FloHoops.com at https://www.flohoops.com/live/10645-2019-siac-basketball-tournament/signup?utm_campaign=2019siacbasketball%20tourney&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=thesiac.com&utm_content=website&rtid=55036&coverage_id=6305465.