Dalton State had an uncharacteristically cold night from the field as (RV) Loyola (La.) snapped the Roadrunners five-game winning streak with a 72-63 win in SSAC action at Mashburn Arena on Thursday night.
A low scoring first half was kicked off with a Randy Bell bucket on the opening possession for Dalton State. After an exchange of missed field goals, the Wolf Pack got on the board with a lay in from Terry Smith Jr. A small 7-0 from the Roadrunners gave them a 9-2 lead at the 16:11 mark.
Dalton State continued to hold the lead through the mid-way point of the first period.
A trey from Malik Pugh combined with two baskets from Elijah Staley saw the Roadrunners draw the lead out to 10 points at 16-6.
Loyola cut the deficit to six after back-to-back field goals from Trayvon Jasmine and Benjamin Fields, but Dalton State answered back with a three pointer from Sean Chislom to take a nine-point lead at 19-10 with 8:08 left to play. The Wolf Pack got a bucket from Myles Burns but another three, this time from Kingston Frazier, swung the lead back to double-digits with 7:15.
The final seven plus minutes, however, belonged to Loyola. A 9-0 run, coupled with the Roadrunners going cold from the field, got the Wolf Pack back into the contest. It would not be until 39 seconds left on the clock when Dalton State got their next basket.
With the lead cut to one at 22-21, Chislom hit a field goal to get the lead to three points. Zach Wrightsil hurried down court on the next possession and got the points right back for the Wolf Pack. Holding for the last shot, Dalton State put the ball in the hands of Bell. With the clock winding down, he would shake-and-bake Ethan Turner out of his shoes and hit a step back trey as the buzzer went off to give the Roadrunners a 27-23 lead at the half.
Five-straight points from Loyola opened the second half as they took the lead, 28-27. A hard fought back-and-forth affair was on display for the crowd at Mashburn Arena from that point on. A tough lay in from Staley with 16:04 on the clock gave Dalton State a 35-32 lead. Loyola answered quickly as Wrightsil found Turner in the corner for a three-ball to tie it up.
The four-minute stretch until the media timeout was more of the same as the teams combined to tie or switch the lead nine times. When the whistle blew for the stoppage in action, the Wolf Pack held a 43-42 lead.
As play resumed, the intensity turned up on both ends. Neither team let the other get away as each answered basket-for-basket. With 8:01 left, Loyola went on a 7-1 to gain an advantage in the tight contest. The run began with a free throw from Fields. He would not stop there as he accounted for the remaining six points, capped off with a three ball to give the Wolf Pack a 56-50 lead.
The Roadrunners fought hard to trim the lead, but struggled to string together successful possessions. They got a great shot with 2:34 left to play when Sean Cranney got a solid look from distance. He missed, but Bell came out of a scrape with the ball and kicked it back to Cranney. He missed again, but Pugh snagged the ball and swung it back to Cranney. A final attempt knocked off the iron and into the hands of Burns.
With Loyola unable to close the game out, Coach Ireland started to foul with just under two minutes to play. His strategy of putting the Wolf Pack on the line payed off as they missed half of their attempts from the charity stripe as time whittled down. The only problem was the Roadrunners continued to struggle from the field and could not capitalize on the misses. In the end, Loyola made enough free throws to hold on for a 72-63 win.
Dalton State (Ga.) falls to (18-11 overall, 13-8 SSAC) with the loss, while (RV) Loyola (La.) improves to (17-11 overall, 12-9 SSAC) with the win. Three Roadrunners scored in double-figures with senior Elijah Staley leading the way with 19 points and eight rebounds.
Sean Chislom completed another double-double with 17 points and 10 boards, while Randy Bell added 16 points and six off the glass. Sean Cranney had a quiet night from the field with only one-point, but the SSAC leader in assists per game dished out 10 dimes.
The freshman duo of Zach Wrightsil and Myles Burns once again led Loyola (La.) with Wrightsil collecting a 25 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists, while Burns had nine points and 15 rebounds. Benjamin Fields had 16 points and eight rebounds, while Terry Smith Jr. was the last Wolf Pack player in double-digits with 12 points.
Loyola won the battle of the boards, 44-37, and points in the paint 28-8. For only the second time this season the Roadrunners committed single digit turnovers with six, while they forced 12. Unfortunately, they only managed nine points off turnovers.
Both squads shot in the 30% region in the first half with Loyola going 11-for-30 (36.7%), and Dalton State going 11-for-32 (34.4%). The second half went the way of the Wolf Pack as they shot 60.7% (17-for-28) compared to 19.6 % (9-for-46) for the Roadrunners.
After going 5-for-13 from behind the arc in the first period, Dalton State went a dreadful 1-for-16 from distance in the second period. In contrast, DS held Loyola to 1-for-10 in the first half, but allowed the Wolf Pack to go 4-for-7 in the second half with two of those coming from big man Benjamin Fields.
The Roadrunners will look to close out the regular season strong and get another W in the win column when they play host to #15 William Carey (Miss.) on Senior Night at Mashburn Arena on Saturday, February 23. Tip-Off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.