Men’s Basketball: Payton Scores 15 As Reach USA Improves To 2-0-1

Payton Scores 15 As Reach USA Improves To 2-0-1

FENGDU, China – Elfrid Payton continued his solid play, scoring 15 points with five assists and four steals, to help Reach USA to a 96-94 win over Athletas de Lithuania in the third game of a cultural exchange tour through the Far East on Thursday night.

For the third night in a row, Lithuania jumped out to a big lead, leading by 18 points with seven minutes left before Reach USA rallied. WKU’s T.J. Price scored a game-high 29 points and 10 rebounds, including a three-pointer with 15.7 seconds left that put Reach USA ahead, 95-94.

Reach USA is now 2-0-1 on the trip.

Lithuania could not score on the ensuing possession and Murray State’s Stacy Wilson grabbed the rebound and was promptly fouled. Wilson, who finished the night with 15 points on seven-for-eight shooting, made the first of two and rebounded his own miss on the second shot to secure the win.

“This trip has been a lot of fun,” Payton said. “The competition is pretty good and really helpful. The game is a little faster than the college level, but not much.

“The sites that we have seen are impressive. We went to Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square and a bunch of other places and the people here keep stopping us to get their pictures taken with us>"

“The food in comparison has a much slimier feel than I am used to. Everything is fat. Yesterday, I saw a fried duck bill. Wow.”

In three games during the tour, Payton is averaging 21.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2.3 steals, shooting .540 from the field (27-50) and .667 from the line (10-15).

This was the third of five straight games that Reach USA will play against Lithuania. The team will then play a Chinese team on Wed. (May 22) and Jiangin on Thursday (May 23) before returning to the United States.

Brian McCann

Sports Information Director

University of Louisiana

201 Reinhardt Drive

Lafayette, LA 70506-4297

Office: (337) 482-6331

Cell: (216) 798-6376