The No. 1 ranked Dalton State Roadrunners scored the first seven points of the game and cruised to a 91-59 win at the Dalton Convention Center’s Mashburn Arena. It was Dalton State’s largest ever win over a conference opponent.
Visiting William Carey, preseason No. 18, was the victim of a tenacious Dalton State defense.
“Things came together for us,” said Coach Tony Ingle.
“Our defense really established itself. That got us going early, and we came up with some good baskets and good rebounds. We had a lot of energy the first half and I’m really proud of them for doing that. We haven’t typically been playing good the first half. We’ve been wanting to put two halves together and tonight we really did.”
Marcel Hawkins had a game high 21 points for the Roadrunners while Jordan Bowling had another double-double with 19 points and a dozen rebounds.
“Marcel and Jordan are a great tandem,” said Ingle. “They look for each other. They know isolations and they are getting to play more confident. They just believe in each other and they can both go inside and out. That’s a beauty to see when they are both doing that on the same night. We’re hard to beat when that happens.”
Jamaine Burrey had 15 point DS points, eight rebounds and four assists. Deshawn Ruffin had 10 points, Zach Dean scored 8 points, Corey McDonald 6 and Nate Terry added 4.
The Roadrunners out rebounded the Crusaders 52-42. Dalton State outshot the visitors from the floor 40.5% (32-79) to 31.3% (20-64). The Roadrunners hit 13 of 30 (43.3%) from three while holding the visitors for 9 of 32 (28.1%) from beyond the arch.
“I don’t know what we could improve on,” Ingle said. “The effort, the energy, intensity, the concentration, the composure and when you get a lead like that not having any game slippage We’ve been working on cutting down on game slippage and I thought we did a good job with that tonight.”
Twelve William Carey players scored, but Donta Pittman’s 10 points made him the only Crusader in double digits.
The Roadrunners (4-2 overall, 2-0 SSAC) now host one of the two teams who beat them in the opening weekend of the season, No. 18 Campbellsville (KY). The Tigers (5-1) will be coming off of a 92-91 Saturday loss to No. 6 Pikeville (KY)
Tuesday’s game at Mashburn Arena will tip-off at 7:00 p.m.