He ranked fourth on the team in scoring with 8.6 points, and with 2.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, he helped the Spartans win the Peach Belt Conference regular season championship.
As a senior that year, Payne earned Atlantic Sun All-Academic honors and was named an Academic All-American.
[2][5] Payne finished his four-year career at USC Upstate with 1,381 points, ranking him 10th on the school's all-time scoring list.
[3] Coming out of college, Payne had some European teams interested in him but received no offers, so he landed in Australia's second-tier division, joining the Lakeside Lightning of the State Basketball League (SBL) for the 2009 season.
He went on to lead the Lightning through to the SBL Grand Final, where behind Payne's 29 points, Lakeside defeated the Perry Lakes Hawks 85–77 to win the championship.
[10] Payne returned to the Lightning in 2010 and ranked second on the team and fourth in the league with 22.8 points per game during the regular season.
[11] He once again helped the Lightning win the minor premiership with a 21–5 record and guided them through to their second straight SBL Grand Final.
The Lightning won 16 consecutive games to finish the regular season, earning their third straight minor premiership with a 24–2 record.
[16] The Lightning's quest for a third straight grand final appearance ended with a 2–1 defeat at the hands of Perry Lakes in the semi-finals.
[17] The Lightning went on to even the series with a 92–88 Game 2 victory, but Payne picked up a leg injury in the third quarter and did not return, eventually requiring treatment in hospital.
The Lightning finished the regular season in second place with a 22–4 record, going on to sweep the Goldfields Giants in the quarter-finals and facing the Cockburn Cougars in the semi-finals.