Dalton State's Preston Earle shoots Thursday night in the win over Brewton-Parker.
Montgomery, AL – The Dalton State basketball team has advanced to the semi-final round of the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament at the Cramton Bowl Multiplex.
The Roadrunners will face William Carey (19-10) Friday at 7:30 p.m. CST, 8:30 p.m. EST. The Crusaders eliminated Faulkner 78-68 Thursday night. Martin Methodist and Bethel tip-off Friday at 3:30 p.m. CST in the other semi-final game.
William Carey handed Dalton State the first loss of the season, 101-95, in triple over time back on Nov. 28.
Number nine seed Brewton-Parker gave top seed Dalton State just about all they could handle Thursday night in the quarter-final round of the SSAC
The #5 ranked Roadrunners, who had a 35-10 half time lead and cruised to a 64-43 win over the Barons just last Saturday night in the final regular season game, had difficulties shaking off the Barons on Thursday night.
Each team had sizeable scoring streaks, but Dalton State never trailed on their way to the 68-64 win.
Dalton State cruised to an 18-4 lead with 13:53 left in the first half, but saw that 14 point lead evaporate to 24-23 at the 7:12 mark. The Barons tied the game at 31 with two minutes before intermission, but never took a lead. The Roadrunners scored the last four points of the half to go ahead, 35-31.
Dalton State ran out to a 54-38 lead to start the second half, but Brewton-Parker went on an 18-4 run of their own to pull to within two, 58-56.
The Roadrunners improve to 27-3 on the season.
Conference player of the year Ladaris Green had his 11th double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds. He also had four blocked shots.
Jordan Bowling had 16 points and six rebounds. Anthony Hilliard scored 11 points and Sean Tate, 10. Preston Earle added eight points. The Baron’s Cameron Bokenham had a game high 20 points including 6 of 12 from outside the arch.
Dalton State coach Tony Ingle was satisfied with getting a “W”.
“Defensively, we could have played better especially against their three ball,” said Ingle. “At the end of the day, I was proud of how well we countered their runs.”
“Offensively, we could have shot the ball better,” Ingle added. “We did enough the right things especially down the stretch drawing fouls and making the foul shots under pressure.”
The Roadrunners defeated the Barons in all three games this season.
Bethel advanced with a 73-69 win over Loyola of New Orleans and Martin Methodist knocked-off Belhaven, 77-66.
Friday night’s Dalton and William Carey tournament game will be broadcast live on Mixx 104.5 in Dalton and can be seen on the internet on the SSAC website.