Men's Basketball 11/25/2014 11:27:00 PM

Dalton State 80, Tennessee Temple 65

# 15 Roadrunner Basketball Improves to 6-0

Box Score

Green Hits Double-Double As Basketball Beats Tennessee Temple

The Dalton State basketball Roadrunners came out firing Tuesday night on their way to an 80-65 win over Tennessee Temple (2-4) at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center's Mashburn Arena.

The Roadrunners scored the first 11 points of the game on the strength of two shots from outside by Jordan Bowling and one from Preston Earle. Tennessee Temple called a time-out at the 16:44 mark. Dalton State still outscored the Crusaders 14-6 to go up by 19 points (25-6) with 13:07 to go in the half.

Dalton State Coach Tony Ingle began to substitute and Tennessee Temple whittled away at the Roadrunner lead. Dalton's lead had evaporated to eleven (34-23) with 5:07 left. The Roadrunners had built the lead back up to 18 (46-28) by the half.

The hosts scored the first six points of the second half to go out on top by their largest lead of the night, 24 (52-28) with 18:37 remaining, but they couldn't quite put the Crusaders away. A shot in the paint by Terrance Scales with 1:10 left pulled Tennessee Temple to within nine (72-63). An 8-2 final run led to the 15 point Roadrunner win.

The coach said the loss of 6-8 senior starter Isaiah Massey due to an ACL injury still stings.

"I think the starters really played well and I think the bench really was not ready to play," Coach Ingle said. "We wouldn't have beaten Life University if the bench had not come in made contributions, but tonight they have to work on their concentration. Everyone on the team has things to work on and we have a lot of improvement to do. My guys just love this game. I hope it shows. I push them hard, but we need to get to where we can play five guys off the bench at once.".

Everybody played and eight scored. Ladaris Green had a double-double to lead Dalton State in points with 20 and rebounds with a dozen. The 6-10 senior also had two assists, two blocks, and two steals. Jordan Bowling had 17 points (including 3-6 from three-point-land), four rebounds, two assists and one steal. SSAC Player of the Week Preston Earle hit four of seven from beyond the arch to score 12 points. He also had six rebounds, one assist and two steals.

Senior point guard Sean Tate scored 11 points (4-4 from the foul line), four assists and two steals. Anthony Hilliard had nine points and nine rebounds. He added four assists and three steals. Raheem Mosley (6), Rico Williams (3) and Jamaine Burrey (2) rounded out the Dalton State scoring. The Roadrunners out rebounded the Crusaders 52-38.

Dalton State hit 11-30 from three-point-range (36%) while Tennessee Temple only hit one of 16 (6.3%). Both teams hit their foul shots. The Roadrunners were 19-21 (90.5%) and the Crusaders were 12-14 (85.7%).

Bryan Jones led Tennessee Temple with 15 points and seven boards. Jullian Butts and Cameron High each scored eight.

Anthony Hilliard takes the ball back down court.

Preston Earle shoots for the Roadrunners

The Roadrunners (6-0 overall, 1-0 SSAC) will leave Thursday for two conference games on the road. They will be in Hattiesburg, MS on Friday to play #9 ranked William Carey (5-0, 1-0) at 7:30 p.m. CST. Saturday will find Dalton State in New Orleans for a 5:00 p.m. CST tip-off against Loyola (1-5, 0-3).

Loyola's Wolfpack fell to Brewton-Parker in overtime Tuesday night - 77-75. Also Tuesday, #5 Talladega College defeated Faulkner, 81-75; Lander knocked off Coastal Georgia, 84-76; and Mississippi College downed Belhaven, 83-75.

The next Dalton State home game will be on Saturday, December 6^th when they host Hiwassee College at 2:00 p.m.

Print Friendly Version