Spartanburg, S.C. - Former USC Upstate basketball star Luke Payne is set to lead his Lakeside Lightning squad into the quarterfinals of the State Basketball League (Australia) playoffs Saturday night.

Payne, who graduated from Spartanburg High School and went on to post one of the top careers in the history of the Upstate men's basketball program, will lead Lakeside in the first game of the best-of-three series with the Perth Redbacks Saturday night at the Belmont Oasis Leisure Center. Lakeside won the regular season championship with a 22-4 record.

Lakeside split its regular season series with Perth, 1-1. Payne led Lakeside to a 120-85 victory over the Redbacks on March 14, finishing with 38 points and four rebounds. Despite pouring in another 38 points with seven boards in the second meeting, Payne's Lightning squad fell to Perth, 107-98, on June 13. He has connected on 12-of-20 three-point attempts in two games against the Redbacks.

Payne is in his first season playing professional basketball. Despite being a rookie, he is the leader of the Lakeside squad. He tops the club in scoring, averaging 25.0 points per game. He also owns averages of 3.7 rebounds and 3.4 assists on the year. He has reached double figures in all 26 games of the season, totaling a career-high 39 points to lead the Lightning to a 100-86 victory over the Stirling Senators on May 23. He has scored 30 or more points eight times and 20 or more points on 19 occasions. He is 88-of-208 (42.3%) from the three-point arc on the season.

Payne was a four-year standout playing for his dad, Eddie Payne, at Upstate from 2004-08 and was named the male Student-Athlete of the Year as a senior. He averaged 11.6 points for his career and finished his four years ranked ninth all-time in scoring with 1,381 points. As a senior, he averaged 14.9 points in leading Upstate in its first year playing on the NCAA Division I level and in the A-Sun. We was named to the all-tournament teams at the BP Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska, and the State Farm Sun Bowl Tournament in El Paso, Texas. He became the first Upstate basketball player to earn weekly honors from the A-Sun, earning player of the week honors following Upstate's win at SMU. He was also a standout in the classroom, earning first team ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District honors as a senior. He was a three-time member of the Peach Belt Conference Presidential Academic Honor Roll and a member of the A-Sun All-Academic team in 2007-08.

Article & Photo from USC Upstate Athletics