After two game where the Golden Bears had to fight back from halftime deficits, No. 24 Miles took control early against Clayton State en route to a relatively mundane 84-71 win over Clayton State Tuesday night at Knox-Windham Gymnasium. The victory was the 21st straight home win for Miles (4-0), which earned its first national ranking of the season earlier in the day and punished the Lakers (0-5) for the third consecutive season thereafter.

Miles never trailed in the contest, scoring nine consecutive points to take an 11-2 lead by the 16-minute media timeout. A tip-in by Elijah Terry pushed the advantage into double figures 90 seconds later and was part of another 9-0 run, which was finished with a three-point play by Terry (11 points on 5-of-6 shooting) to give the Golden Bears a 20-4 cushion by the 12-minute media timeout. The lead got as high as 19 points twice in the first half, the last coming on a three-point play by Cameron Jernigan (15 points on 7-of-11 shooting, 12 rebounds, four blocks) with 1:36 to go before the break, and the Golden Bears took a 45-29 lead into halftime.

Clayton State trailed by double figures for most of the second half but it made a late run to get back into the game. A 3-pointer by Justin Evans cut the deficit to eight points with 6:26 left in the game and the Lakers got two free throws by Joe Thomas with 5:43 remaining to trail just 72-64. But a layup by Najashi Tolefree, a dunk by Terry, and another fastbreak bucket by David Williams (12 points on 6-of-8 shooting, five assists) put the Miles lead back into double figures, where it remained for the rest of the contest. Miles shot 68 percent from the field in the second half and 58.5 percent from the floor for the game.

Andre Young (20 points), Thomas (19) and Jojo Bell (13) all scored in double figures for Clayton State. Tolefree (23 points on 10-of-18 shooting, nine rebounds, four assists, two steals) and Tyon Thompson (14 points on 6-of-10 shooting, nine rebounds, eight assists) had big nights for Miles, which travels to face Morehouse on Dec. 4. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.