Jordan Bowling puts up a Dalton State shot at the baseline Saturday.
The Dalton State basketball Roadrunners (3-0) jumped out to an early 29-9 lead and cruised to a 91-77 victory over visiting Morris College (1-5) of Sumter, SC Saturday night at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center’s John Willis Mashburn Arena.
Both teams freely substituted throughout the contest. Dalton State Coach Tony Ingle was happy with the starters, but would like to have seen better production from the bench.
Jermaine Burrey’s three point shot with 2:30 left in the half gave the Roadrunners a 51-24 lead.
The hosts went on to lead 52-33 at the half. Dalton State Coach Ingle kept experimenting with his bench in the second half but only got 16 points of bench production.
“The guys that came off of the bench weren’t ready to play when it was time to call on them,” said Ingle. “I think they are better than what they’ve shown. We wouldn’t have beaten Life University if the bench had not contributed when they were called upon. Everyone on the team has things to work on. This is our third game and we’ve got a lot of improvement to do.”
Isiah Massey started the Roadrunners’ first two games, but was injured early in the second game. The ACL injury will require surgery and the 6-8 senior transfer from Louisiana Tech is out for the season.
“We’ve been devastated not having Isaiah. That’s thrown everything for a loop. We’ve got a lot of improvement to do,” said Ingle. “Now we’ve got to rotate line-ups, we’ve got to put people in. I thought we had it set with Jordan Bowling coming off of the bench because he is a very versatile player. He can play all five positions. Now he is having to start for Isaiah.”
The injury has made finding more players who can contribute even more crucial. “I’m trying to find my top eight or nine players and I haven’t,” Ingle added.
Massey is taking a positive attitude and hoping to recover, but Coach Ingle says it is too early to know if the McDonough, GA native will be able to return.
“We will not know the decisions we are going to have to make a coaching staff until they go in and actually perform the surgery,” Ingle said. “He’s had three knee operations already. His career could be over. We’re going to do everything we can to help him. He is a Roadrunner. It’s devastating. It’s been emotional for our team. It’s a letdown for all of us.”
Dalton State out rebounded Morris 59-44, but were out performed at the free throw line.
The Roadrunners were 56.7% (17-30) to the Hornets’ 75.9% (22-29). Bowling had a game high 21 points along with six rebounds in just under 24 minutes of playing time. Preston Earle scored 18 points including 3-4 free throws. Sean Tate had 16 points (7-8 free throws). Anthony Hilliard scored 12. Ladaris Green was limited to 23 minutes 15 seconds of playing time, but had eight points and a game high 10 rebounds.
Dalton State has two games on the road during the coming week. They visit Hiwassee College Tuesday night at 7 and Faulkner University for the first ever counting conference game Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m. Eastern (7:30 p.m. in Montgomery.
Roadrunner freshman Deshawn Ruffin makes a great save in Saturday's Dalton State win over Morris College.