Sports

‘So much potential;’ District remembers former Dayton HS standout killed in Florida shooting

East Lansing, MI — Former Dayton high school basketball standout and NBA player Adreian Payne died early Monday morning after being shot and killed at a home in east Orange County, Florida, according to our news partners at WFTV-TV in Orlando.

>>Photos: Adreian Payne through the years

Sheriff’s deputies were called to a home just after 1:30 a.m., WFTV reported. Upon arrival, they found Payne injured. He was taken to a hospital where he later died.

Investigators identified the shooter as Lawrence Dority, 29. WFTV reported that Dority was arrested on a warrant for first-degree murder and was taken to the Orange County Jail.

>>RELATED: Former Orlando Magic player Adreian Payne shot, dies

He graduated from Jefferson High School in 2010 and helped them to a Division IV state championship his senior year.

Payne was remembered as being one of the “shining stars” during his time as a student and athlete in the Jefferson Twp. district, Superintendent Dr. Richard Gates said in a statement to News Center 7 Monday.

“We were very saddened to hear the tragic news of Adreian’s passing. He was an outstanding young man with so much potential. He will forever be one of the Jefferson Township Educational Community’s shining stars,” Gates said in the statement.

Payne played four seasons of college ball at Michigan State from 2010 to 2014 and was a first round pick of the Atlanta Hawks in 2014. He scored over 1,000 points in his college career and led the Spartans to the Elite Eight his senior year before losing to eventual champ UConn in 2014.

He played in both the NBA and the NBA G-League before going overseas in 2018. Payne played in Greece, winning the GBL championship in 2018 and Greek Basketball Cup in 2019 as a member of Panthiakos, a Greek League Basketball Club. Payne also played overseas in Turkey, China and Lithuania.

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