Dalton State's Preston Earle goes to the basket against Erskine College's Ray Lock during the Roadrunners' 75-63 win in the season opener.
A good home opening crowd of 1,532 loud Roadrunner fans, including a vibrant student section, saw the Dalton State basketball team score the first 11 points of the game Tuesday night.
“Our fans are amazing,” said Dalton State Coach Tony Ingle.”
The Roadrunners never trailed on their way to the 75-63 win over Erskine College (SC). “We never relinguished the lead and that comes from leaders like Sean Tate, LaDaris Green and Anthony Hilliard,” said Ingle.
Preston Earle sat on the bench for most of the Monday win over Life University. He played 37 minutes and 26 seconds on Tuesday and was the game’s leading scorer with 21 points. He also had eight boards.
“It’s good to stay out of foul trouble,” Earle said. “We all played good tonight. We played as a team. We’ve got a lot of work to do though.”
Dalton State out rebounded the Running Fleet 46 to 27.Jordan Bowling had 17 points and ten rebounds. Tate scored 15 points and was six of six from the free throw line. Hilliard scored 11.
“I am proud of the way we came ready to play and our intensity on defense was outstanding,” said Ingle. ”We really controlled the boards and came up with some key defensive steels.”
But the win could prove costly. Isaiah Massey, the 6’8” senior from McDonough, GA by way of Louisiana Tech had to be helped off of the court early in the contest. He had only played 2:51 when he left for the night and perhaps for the season.
Massey said he literally fell for a pump fake. “I jumped and fell on it awkwardly. Right now I can’t even move on it,” said Massey. The injury looked like a possible season ending injury, but Massey is hoping tests will reveal an easier injury to take. “We’ll see. We’ve got an MRI tomorrow,” he said. “Hopefully It’s not anything season ending.”
Saturday’s game will tip-off at 4:00 p.m. The Roadrunners will host the Morris College Hornets at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center.