Ladaris Green lay-up
The (6) Dalton State basketball Roadrunners (25-3, 15-2 SSAC) clinched a share of the conference regular season championship Thursday night with a 24 point, 83-59 win over College of Coastal Georgia.
The Mariners connected on 8 of 12 free throw attempts in the first half to stay within two points of the Roadrunners at 38-36. Coastal Georgia was held to just two of 16 second half attempts from beyond the arch.
“You obviously had the tale of two halves there,” said Dalton State Coach Tony Ingle, who captured his 51st game at Dalton State in just 58 attempts.
“In the first half we were doing some things that we wanted to use to confuse them, put something in their heads with.
Some of our rotations allowed their best shooters to be open and they hit them. It was often the defenses that I was calling that left guys open, but that was part of the game plan. We didn’t know they were going to hit that many. We felt like that if we could cut that down, we could take ownership of the game.”
The Roadrunners again had a balanced team effort. Four players scored in double figures. Preston Earle scored 16 points, Jordan Bowling scored 14, Anthony Hilliard had 13 points and 8 rebounds. Jamaine Bowling scored 11 points and Ladaris Green had seven points and six rebounds.
Coastal Georgia out rebounded the Roadrunners 43-41. Dalton State shot 43.2% from the floor and 81.3% from the free throw line. The Mariners shot 35.49% from the floor and 75% from the charity stripe.
Coastal Georgia’s Michael Matta scored 13 points while teammate Andrej Tomic had 12 points and 13 rebounds. “That’s a big guy in there,” Ingle said of Tomic. “He must work at Burger King, because he’s a whopper,”
The Roadrunners host Brewton-Parker (14-12, 7-10 SSAC) Saturday at 5:00 p.m. for senior day.
“A win Saturday will give the regular season championship to us outright and that is obviously what we want,” said Ingle. As the top seed, Dalton State should play their first game of next week’s SSAC Tournament on Thursday, March 6th, at 6:15 p.m. CST (7:15 EST) The tournament will held in the Cramton Bowl Multiplex in Montgomery.
About senior day: “These seniors and what they’ve accomplished. It’s going to be emotional, said Ingle. “We’re building a culture. We want serious students. We want good culture. We obviously want kids who can compete on the court.”
Thursday NAIA Men’s Basketball
(6) Dalton State 83, Coastal Georgia 59
(10) Martin Methodist (TN) 64, Brewton-Parker GA) 60
(RV) Faulkner (MS) 60, Mobile 48
Bethel (TN) 82, Loyola (LA) 76
Blue Mountain (MS) 67, Belhaven (MS) 64
Auburn Montgomery 83, Middle Georgia 81 (OT)
Life – GA 91, (3) Pikeville (KY) 84
St. Catherines (KY) 71, (7) Georgetown (KY) 68
(9) Campbellsville (KY), 75, Shawnee State (OH) 56
Reinhardt (GA) 82, Bryan (TN) 73
Preston Earle puts up a shot Thursday night against College of Coastal Georgia