ELIZABETH CITY, NC -- Senior Tevin Andrews scored 23 points and hauled in 12 rebounds as the Apprentice School knocked off NCAA Division II Claflin University (SC) 66-57 in the opening game of the Elizabeth City State Classic at the RL Vaughan Center on Friday night.

A tightly contested first half saw the lead change hands six times in the first 10 minutes.  Claflin's Mark Harp hit a pair of free throws at the 12:27 mark to put the Panthers up 12-8, which turned into their largest lead of the night. 

The Builders went on an 11-3 run over the next 2:52 to push their lead to 19-15 on a 3-pointer from Latrone Demiel with 9:35 left.  Claflin got to 21-19 on a Jarrod Denard jumper with 8:06 left before Apprentice School went on 13-5 flurry to go up 34-24 on a Terrence Palmer layup with 3:58 left.  The Panthers closed the half on a 9-1 run bringing the halftime margin to 35-33 on a Harp 3-point play.

Claflin took their final lead of the game on a David Glover 3-pointer with 15:28 left for a 42-40 advantage.  Apprentice School worked their way up 57-47 with 4:22 left on a pair of Andrews free throws to lead 57-47. The Panthers had one last flurry ripping off 10 of the next 12 points over a two minute span to bring them within 59-57 on a Glover layup with 2:22 left.

Down the stretch, the Builders hit five-of-six from the foul line and a layup from Palmer to hold the Panthers at bay.  Apprentice School turned the defense up in the second half as the forced Claflin into a 7-of-34 performance from the field (20.6%) and harassed them into 18-of-67 from the floor for the game (26.9%) and 3-of-26 from 3-point range (11.5%).

Lavontae Thomas added 16 points for the Builders who were a clip under 50% from the field (23-48/47.9%) and out-rebounded a taller Claflin squad 46-36.

The Builders close out the classic on Saturday at 6 pm when they face the hosts Elizabeth City State Vikings.