Men’s Basketball: Payton Flirts With Triple-Double, Leads Reach USA to 104-98 Win

BAOTOU, China – Elfrid Payton scored 28 points with nine rebounds and eight assists to lead Reach USA to a 104-98 overtime win over Jiangsu on Thursday evening.

 

Jiangsu finished third this past year in the NBL pro league.

 

Baotou is the largest industrial city in Inner Mongolia, owning a population of 2.335 million with 1.4 million living in the inner city.

 

This was the last game of a goodwill cultural exchange to the Far East, with Reach USA going 4-2-1 during the tour.

 

Reach USA appeared to be headed to a last-second loss before Mercer’s Travis Smith connected on a three-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime.  Reach USA led by four points at halftime but found themselves trailing by nine in the fourth quarter.

 

Reach USA applied a full-court press to get back in the game and used the pressure to its advantage in overtime.

 

Western Kentucky’s T.J. Price added 25 points and six rebounds for Reach USA while Greg Fant from WKU (11 points) and Tennessee Tech’s Josiah Moore and Murray State’s Stacy Wilson (10 points each) each scoring in double figures.

 

In seven games, Payton led Reach USA averaging 21.7 points with five games of 20 or more points.  He added 7.1 rebounds, 5.6 assist and 3.0 steals, shooting .533 from the field (65-122) and .700 from the line (21-30). 

 

 

 

Brian McCann

Sports Information Director

University of Louisiana

201 Reinhardt Drive

Lafayette, LA  70506-4297

Office:  (337) 482-6331

Cell:  (216) 798-6376